Reminiscence
by Itachilova101
Summary: Itachi and Sakura now have a simple but happy life in the Land of Waves and Sakura's dreams are beginning to become more vivid, much to the couple's happiness... but is everything as it seems? Sequel to Remembrance ItaSaku SEQUEL NOW OUT!
1. Prologue

A/N: Okay, I couldn't resist putting up the prologue... I'll try to have the next chapters up soon, but no certainties! So, with no further adieu, Remembrance's sequel, Reminiscence!

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Dearest Shishou:

_Hello again, my dear Shishou and whoever may be reading this letter at the moment. It's been far too long, hasn't it? I truly hope this letter finds you well. How are things? Oh, no need to answer that, because you can't, you don't know where I am!_

_I'm not sure how long it's been since I've been in contact with anybody from Konoha and I figured that it was probably a good idea for me to inform you of my status. First off, I would like to tell you that I am, in fact, alive and well (no thanks to you) and I am actually quite content with my new lifestyle. It's much better living with those who are actually willing to tell me the truth and won't send me out to my death just to sate some drunken old hag's unquenchable curiosity._

_Anyway, I'm no longer in the Akatsuki, but I hold my allegiance to a new home (a home that I'm not feeling particularly compelled to reveal to you). And, I succeeded in learning many things during my experiences with the Akatsuki, some pertaining to the mission you sent me on and some... not so much. _

_Whether the information I have unearthed is relevant or not, however, isn't important because I know that it's the true reason I was sent on this mission. Oh, Itachi says hi, by the way. Just thought you'd like to know that._

_I would _love _to thank you _so_ much for your complete kindness in assigning me this mission, because I know that you had nothing but the best of intentions in mind while sending me out to what could very well have been an emotional death sentence. I would not like to thank you, however, for using me as a puppet to find out about the secrets of the Uchiha Massacre and, also, for making me come _this_ close to death several times over the past several months. _

_And, since I'm in such a happy and charitable mood, thanks to the kindness of my lover, Uchiha Itachi, you will find attached many of the Akatsuki's best-kept secrets and even some interesting trivia on the true goings-on of the Uchiha Massacre._

_Enjoy,_

_The Female Formerly Known as Haruno Sakura_

* * *

"You're as bad as Sasuke," Itachi commented, setting the letter he had just read over onto the table, a deeply amused smirk on his pale face, "You just have to dig the hole deeper and deeper."

Sakura shrugged, smiling innocently as she took a sip of her tea, and then winked. "I have no clue what you're talking about. All I did was write down the bare facts, nothing more and nothing less. I can't be blamed if it's a little... snippy."

"Snippy is a major understatement, Reina," the former Uchiha corrected, picking at his dumplings, "This is just downright rude."

"I learned from the best."

Itachi chuckled. "Well then, I taught you well, it seems."

"Very well."

"Alright, well, I guess all that's left is to send it and then head on our way home." Raising an elbow, a bird that had been hiding in a tree flew into the outdoor teahouse and landed on the inclined elbow. Itachi rolled the note into a cylinder, tied it to the bird's leg and let it go deliver the message. "I suppose that this means we're true missing-nin now?"

"It would seem so."

"Fantastic."

Downing the last of her tea, Sakura stood up, dropped a few coins on the table and jerked her head toward the street. "Should we get going, Ritsu? We've got a long way to go and it's not like we can really use our chakra to make us go faster during the last half of the journey."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "Not if we don't want to be discovered... and we don't."

Sakura nodded. "Let's go then. I want to get out of this smelly little town."

Itachi chuckled and stood as well, taking his lover's hand and heading toward the street in search of a place they could go to get some last-minute supplies for the long journey that was to come. "It doesn't smell that bad."

"It smells like civilization and it's been over a year since I've even stepped foot in a village."

"Does civilization even have a specific smell? Hm, some things never cease to amaze me."

"Not since you met me, anyway."

Nodding in agreement, he said, "_Especially _not since I met you."

"Come on, hurry up, I want to get out of here!"

Itachi sighed and followed after the now black-haired former kunoichi, absent-mindedly running his fingers through his own cropped hair. It was so short! How long had it been since he'd had his hair so short that it couldn't even go into a ponytail?

He couldn't remember.

"Ita—uh... Ritsu, you're slowing down again!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Then, a store caught his eye and he turned to see a department store and shrugged. It'd do. They just needed a couple of sleeping bags (or one really big one), a couple canteens, some non-perishable food and an ATM.

"Come on," he tugged on Sakura's hand and led the way into the store. "Let's shop and get out of this smelly town."

"Now you're making some sense!"

* * *

"You have got to be kidding," Sakura whined, holding the outfit at arm's length as she inspected it. "I am _so not_ wearing this, Ita—erm... Ritsu. It's so... gothic."

They had gone into the store to buy what they needed but had found themselves looking through the clothes, admiring and wondering whether they should buy the things they liked or not.

"That's the point, Reina, dear," Itachi replied lightly, though it was obvious that he was trying to stifle his laughter. "I told you on our way here that I was going to get you into the whole grunge chic look, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," the former kunoichi agreed with a snarl, "But I never expected you to keep your word."

Itachi chuckled and took the outfit from his lover, putting it back on the shelf, and went off to look for some other clothing types while Sakura inspected her make-over in the complimentary compact mirror she'd gotten with her make-up.

Her hair was now black; her eyes now steel blue, her lips a nice shade of pink and her cheeks had a faint rosy tinge to them. When Itachi had said that he was going to change her look, he hadn't been kidding.

When the Uchiha returned, she switched to inspecting his new look. His hair was now cropped and gelled into spikes, his ears pierced near the top, his eyes black without the Sharingan and he was currently wearing his "grunge chic" outfit. And Sakura had to admit that it was really working for him. It was as if he was made to look like a Goth-Punk-Marylyn-Manson-Wannabe type.

"How about this?" the former Uchiha suggested, holding up a pair of pink fishnet stockings, matching silk underthings with a little (pink) fur ball in the bum area. Then, he showed her the bunny-ear headband and Sakura's jaw dropped.

"What are you, Hugh Hefner?" she asked with disgust, waving away the tawdry outfit. "If you aren't going to take this seriously, at least let me shop for my own clothes."

Itachi rolled his eyes and returned with a pale pink pleated skirt and a white tank top to go with it, eyes narrowing at her approving smile. "Are you _trying_ to keep me from having any fun while we're living in Waves?"

Sakura smirked and winked. "I'll take the outfit."

Itachi rolled his eyes again and brought the outfit to the counter where the rest of their purchases sat in a new rucksack, the cashier grinning far too sweetly. It would seem as though outpost towns didn't get a great deal of good-looking men very often. Either that or she was trying to suck up to the credit card the former Uchiha had pulled.

Sakura's eyes narrowed on the small piece of plastic and she watched nervously as it was swiped, Itachi signed the receipt (in a signature he had apparently copied with his Sharingan) and then as he pocketed it.

"Come again soon!" the girl said cheerfully and Sakura smiled half-heartedly as they walked out of the store and into the bustling streets filled with tourists.

"Won't the Akatsuki get suspicious when they find a credit card bill from that card?" she asked quietly as Itachi took her hand to lead her through a dense crowd of spectators watching a monkey juggle some apples, "And you even mentioned Waves. Isn't that sort of risky?"

"One, we look nothing like we used to," Itachi answered, dropping the fake tourist attitude that he'd adopted,, "Two, this may be a small town, but a lot of customers do come by, touring the sights. There is absolutely no way a girl could remember exactly who we are, where we're headed and our method of payment."

Sakura had to admit that he had a point.

"Anyway, even if they did track the transaction," he carried on, taking out the credit card and snapping it in half, "They just hit a dead end. I already took out all that we needed, leaving the rest to pay for our things." He tossed the pieces of plastic over his shoulder, his perfect-to-the-point-of-being-uncanny aim landing said card into the trash can a few feet away.

It seemed as though that old saying rang true; old habits _do_ die hard.

"Well, now we've got clothes so that, when we walk into Waves, we should look like normal civilians. I even called in a few favors and we've got an apartment waiting for us."

"Seriously?" Sakura asked, amazed at all the forethought the man had put into this. "Wow, so we're pretty much set. All we have to do is find jobs... and get ID."

"Right here," Itachi said, pulling out two new pieces of plastic, one with Itachi's disguised-look and one with Sakura's.

Said former-kunoichi took the two cards and looked them over. It had fake names, fake birthdays, fake everything. "Wow," she repeated, handing them back. "How'd you pull that off?"

"Sharingan can be _very_ convincing to those who know of its capabilities. And I used the pictures I had taken at the salon."

"You flashed Sharingan!" she hissed, "Now we're really going to be remembered!"

Itachi wrapped his arm around her and said, "Oh, ye of little faith, my love. You forget that I'm a missing-nin, I know all about these sorts of things, how to keep undetected while still living a normal life. I wasn't in Akatsuki the entire time I was away from the village, you know. I had to get accepted."

"Oh... well, okay."

"Just relax and enjoy the scenery. Sure, we're going to need to be discreet and careful, but that doesn't mean that we can't still enjoy our new life together. Getting paranoid is only going to make it all the more harder to live normally."

Sakura sighed and nodded. "Yeah, alright... I'll try to be a little bit more trusting in your abilities."

"Good, because there are a lot of them."

"Don't I know it."

With that said Sakura turned her head and planted a kiss to her lover's waiting lips as they strolled out of the town.

It had been a little less than a year since the two had faked their deaths, most of that time spent laying low and making sure not to do anything conspicuous, and now they were finally on their way to a normal life. It had been difficult and it would prove to be more so as time passed on, but so far, it was proving to be so worth it.

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A/N: How's this for a beginning to a sequel?


	2. Home Sweet Home?

A/N: I really shouldn't be putting this chapter up yet until I can be certain that this is the route I want the story to take, but... meh, what the hell! It's my story, so I'll pay the consequences if I screw it up. Besides, I feel weird when I don't update quickly... T.T

* * *

The smell of salt water was strong as Itachi and Sakura strolled out of the forest to be met by a mist-cloaked harbor, an awaiting ferry at the dock, ready to transport them to their new home.

"'Lo thar!" the captain of the ferry greeted exuberantly in an overly-thick sailor accent, "Come aboard the ferry express, yer little feet won't be regrettin' it!"

With a shared look of skeptical amusement, the two boarded the ferry and sat down to enjoy the ride to Waves. The blanket of mist left their skin moist and their hair damp, the rocking of the ship was somewhat uncomfortable and the captain's "Songs of the Sea" were endlessly annoying, but the couple could not have cared less. They could only keep their eyes trained on their new home.

"This yer first time to Waves?" the captain asked solicitously, "Or are ye comin' back again 'cause ye loved it so?"

"This is my second time," Sakura admitted with a shrug, not bothering to admit her only time other than this one had been a mission that left Waves a free and potentially wealthy island. That the island's famous bridge had been named after her once best friend.

"I've been here many times," Itachi added, "Before and after Gatou's rule."

"Ah, yes, Gatou, I remember the old bastard well, a real piss-in-the-fountain type, he was."

Sakura smiled at the man's sailor language and decided that she liked him. He seemed friendly enough and she hoped that others in the village were as open as he was.

"I suppose yer from the main land, yes?"

Sakura nodded. "Um... does everybody here have your accent? Because the last time I was here, they all seemed to talk pretty normally."

The man laughed and answered without the accent, "Nah, it's just my boss' idea of getting more customers. Apparently it adds to the whole ship motif thing."

She giggled. "You do it very well."

"Why, I be givin' ye thanks, Missus, not many a customer comes by an' compliments me accent. Quite a jolly feeling it is."

Sakura giggled even more and even Itachi smiled with amusement.

And then they were across the water and the captain pulled the ferry up to the dock, causing a large wave to hit the shore and splash a few bathing suit-laden strollers.

"Here we be, maties," the captain announced with a large grin that Sakura couldn't help but compare to Lee's. "The island and all its wonderful glory."

"Thank you," Sakura said, standing from the floor, Itachi right behind.

When Itachi tried to pay him, the man only waved the money off with a shake of his head. "On the house, friends, a welcome-to-the-island present. Now you two go and enjoy your stay, maybe we'll run into each other again soon."

The former kunoichi nodded and replied, "I hope so. Thanks again!"

And, with that, Sakura took Itachi's hand and they stepped off the boat onto the dock. When they made it to the sand, they turned back to wave to the captain and the boat that was now disappearing back into the mist.

"He seems nice," Sakura commented, squeezing his hand, "Maybe it's a good sign? Maybe we'll get lucky here?"

Itachi smiled softly and nodded. "I think so."

"So, show me this new place of ours. I can't wait to see it."

Taking out a folded-up piece of paper, he opened it to show a map of the island. "This is where we'll be living. Apparently it's a really cheap apartment building and, for right now, cheap is our best chance for a place until we get some jobs. But it's pretty close to the harbor on the other side of the island, so we'll have some walking to do."

"Well then, what're we waiting for? Let's go! Home, ho!"

Itachi chuckled and led the way, following the instructions on the map to a tee. And then, not long after (since the island is quite small) they found it. It was a shabby old building, five stories high with a balcony on each suite, the metal bars of the ledge wearing chipped paint and rust. The windows seemed a little dirty and the paint on the walls of the building was peeling, most likely from the constant humidity.

"Well..." Itachi murmured, "At least we'll have a nice view of the ocean."

Smiling at her lover's weak attempt at positive-thinking, Sakura nodded in agreement and walked into the building to find their suite.

They were on the third floor, apartment 3A. The paint on the door was no better than the balcony railing, the numbers made of rusted metal. The door looked like it hadn't been touched since the turn of the century.

Crouching down, Itachi removed the Welcome mat to find a key there and used it to unlock the door. When he tried to open said door, it made a horrible scraping noise of wood rubbing against wood and the hinges creaked in complaint from having to work around the rust.

The inside of the apartment was no better than any of the other parts. It was furnished, but sparsely so. There was a couch, a coffee table and a chair, each of which wearing a wealthy coating of dust. Walking into the kitchen, they found nothing but the bare necessities: counters, cupboards, fridge and stove. The floor was grimy and disgusting and the carpet of the hallway was no better. There were only two rooms at the end of the hall which they assumed were the bedroom and the bathroom.

Neither was brave enough to go see what state the bathroom was in, but they did brave the bedroom. It had a small bed, completely bare except for a couple pillows and a blanket, and a tiny little closet.

"Well..." Itachi murmured, "At least there's a fine view of the ocean."

This time Sakura neither smiled nor agreed. The place was a dump, it was disgusting, probably infested with bugs and rats and other such lovely things. How much were they expected to pay for this place?

"I know it's a bit of a fixer-upper," a voice from the doorway said and the couple whirled around to find a smiling little man, "But every thing's in working order, I made sure of that."

"And you are...?" Itachi asked dryly, pushing Sakura behind him even though it was obvious the stranger posed little threat. It was useless anyway, she just ended up poking her head around the man to eye the stranger curiously, noting the kind smile and the merry glint in his old eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners?" the stranger asked with an amused shake of his head, "These old brains of mine are growing more and more useless as the days go by. My name's Shindou Kira, the rent supervisor, maintenance worker and go-to guy for anything you might need for the apartment. In other words, I'm your new landlord."

Itachi nodded and lost some of his tension. It would seem that he was just as wary of anything that might pose a possible risk as Sakura was. But, in all honesty, it was to be expected.

"Fuujiwa Ritsu," Itachi introduced himself, "And this is my wife, Reina. A friend of mine spoke with you over the phone, apparently?"

"Ah, yes, Hiro. A good lad, that one."

The former Uchiha nodded his agreement.

"So, um," Sakura murmured, looking around the room, "How much is the rent here? For curiosity's sake, completely."

"Oh, well..." the landlord wore a thoughtful expression and he pursed his lips as he tried to figure the expenses in his mind, "Once at the beginning of every month, you'll be expected to pay three-hundred. But the first three months are always free, it's a sort of incentive to get tenants in here considering the poor state of repair. It works, though, since most who come to live here are fresh off the boat and have yet to find jobs."

Sakura smiled. For that rate, this place was the Ritz!

"Well, I'd best be going," Kira stated with a warm smile, "I just wanted to come by and see if you two were here yet. If there's anything at all you need, don't be afraid to knock at my door. I live in 1F."

"Thank you," Itachi and Sakura replied in unison, producing a wider grin from Kira.

"You two really are newlyweds. What a treat, it will be wonderful to see the nice Missus over there have a couple kids and whatnot. Well, I'll leave you to it." And, with that, the landlord disappeared just as quickly and silently as he had appeared.

"Everybody here's pretty friendly," Sakura mumbled, a little red from the children comment. "Looks like we should be safe."

Itachi nodded. "Yeah."

"Something wrong, Itachi?"

He shook his head. "No, I guess he just caught me off-guard... not just anybody can do that. Think he might have been a shinobi at one time?"

The black-haired female shrugged and flopped onto the bed, coughing as a cloud of dust rushed into the air to suffocate her. "Dear Lord, we just got here and the place is already trying to kill me!"

* * *

A/N: A homicidal bed! XD Fly, my little dust-bunnies, fly! Muwahahahaahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!!!1!!!one!


	3. Their Effects

A/N: Yes, I know, in comparison this chapter is major short, but I wanted to make a separate chapter of both Pein and Tsunade's POVs. Sorry! Please don't hurt me! :(

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"Where the hell are they?" Pein wondered aloud as he stood at a work table, leaning over a map of the Five Great Nations, gritting his teeth with frustration, "How did they just manage to disappear like this?" He raised one hand to trace along the black line that symbolized to Konoha border and then raised it again, slamming a fist onto the table. "How is this possible?!"

"Pein?"

"What?!" he snapped, whirling around to see an unfazed Konan standing in the doorway, her arms folded in front of her chest. She quirked her brow and he shook his head, sitting on the edge of the table, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I don't understand what's taking so long. It's been almost a goddamn year since they disappeared and none of our men can find them?"

The only female Akatsuki member shrugged and said, "That's actually why I'm here. We've received word back from Kisame and Zetsu.

He waited impatiently for her to carry on.

"They're investigating some rumors about Orochimaru being on the move and how it's an odd coincidence that this started just as the Uchiha and his woman disappeared. They're on his trail right now and say that they should be making contact with him in a matter of days."

"Orochimaru?" Pein murmured, his brow furrowing just slightly, "Didn't Itachi mention once that he wanted to see Orochimaru dead?"

Konan's answer was a tiny, apathetic shrug.

He nodded to his own question and stood from the place he was sitting at. "Yes, yes, Orochimaru definitely had something to do with this... report to Kisame and Zetsu and tell them to bring Orochimaru in for questioning. This may be a very interesting lead.

* * *

When Tsunade read the mysterious letter with no return address, she had been drunk and unable to comprehend what all the weird squiggly lines on the paper meant. When she was sober (albeit hung over)... well, suffice it to say that she was not happy.

Pushing down the intercom button so that she could speak to Shizune in the next room, she asked for her first apprentice to join her in the office.

"Is something the matter, Milady?" Shizune asked as she rushed into the room, TonTon on her heels with a lazy expression.

"Take a look at this," the blond commanded grimly as answer, holding up the sheet of paper with Sakura's letter on it, "And ask me if something's the matter."

The younger female took the letter and quickly read it over, her eyes widening with every word. "Where is this information, Milday?"

"Folded on my desk," answered the blond, "I'm not quite sure whether I should trust any information from her, considering what she had to say in that letter."

"So... what do you plan to do about it?" The question was quiet and cautious, as though Shizune didn't want to know the answer but knew that she had to ask anyway. "Are you going to read the info? Or... or are you going to take decisive action?"

"Haven't decided yet. I only just read the letter, myself," the blond Hokage admitted, "But I'll need you to bring the information and the letter to the elders for now, let them deal with the village... and with Naruto."

"With Naruto?"

"When he finds out about Sakura's betrayal, he's going to be all over my ass. Have the elders cook up a few days of D-ranks in some civilian village until we come upon a decision."

Shizune nodded, gave her agreement to the demands with a murmured "Ma'am,", took the papers and rushed out of the room to do her Mistress' bidding.

Tsunade sighed sadly when the door closed, putting her back into privacy. It was true that she was pretty upset about this turn of events, but she also couldn't blame Sakura for what she was doing. It must have been hard for the kunoichi to find out about what had happened to her and it wasn't surprising to see this happen.

Tsunade was really filled with only regret. She never should have forced the issue. She never should have even assigned the mission. She couldn't believe she was thinking this at the moment, but she knew that she should have listened to Naruto this time. Perhaps, if she had, Sakura would be safe preparing for some other mission and imagining some Sasuke-esque vision of her dream man. Perhaps, if she had listened to Naruto, her top pupil would never have allied herself with an S-class criminal whose main objective was obviously to do the poor girl harm.

Tsunade sighed again and went back to work.

* * *

A/N: Naruto's gonna be _angry_! You thought I forgot about Orochimaru, didn't you? Didn't you?! It's okay n.n I forgive yew! *luff-luff*


	4. The Snake's Resurfacing

A/N: Yay! Back to long chapters! Yay! Back to ItaSaku!

* * *

Itachi knew that this was the worst possible time to resurface in society. Akatsuki wasn't a group of idiots, so, if they hadn't realized right away, they would know by now that he and Sakura had faked their deaths. They would be out there, using all of their spies and all of the members to find them and wouldn't stop until they were found.

And he was looking at one of those spies right now as he was being interviewed for a position at the docks. He was very relieved that the spy hadn't been given back any of his memories dealing with the Akatsuki or, if he had, he didn't seem to recognize the Uchiha.

But still... this was bad. Very bad.

"Fuujiwa-san?" the spy, Yoshida Hikaru, called with a tone of worry, "Fuujiwa-san? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

And with a blink of his eyes, he was out of his dazed reverie and was looking into the anxious face of the man who could ruin everything. He forced a smile, something he'd been practising the past year or so, and nodded. He had to act normal; he couldn't be his usual emotionless self because, oddly enough, that seemed to draw a lot of attention. "I'm fine, sorry. You were saying that you have an opening?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yes. It won't be on the boats, but on the docks themselves. The pay is quite decent compared some of the wages in the markets and the work will be laborious, but it tends to keep people busy so that the time goes by quickly."

"It sounds great." He forced his smile an eighth of an inch wider so that it caused teeny little smile-wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and queried, "When do I start?"

Hikaru thought for a moment, then answered, "If you come in tomorrow at about six in the morning, I'll have somebody there to train you."

"Perfect."

The man/spy extended a hand for Itachi to shake and he did. It was more of a quick brushing of hands and the tiniest of shakes, but Hikaru seemed appeased by it and Itachi wasn't willing to stay there and see just how appeased he was. He was getting out of there, going home, and thinking things over.

He needed a plan. But, first, he would go wake Sakura up and would hold onto her. Because there was a possibility that he wouldn't be able to hold her for very long. And, though he admitted it very reluctantly, the idea scared him.

He wasn't going to deal with losing her. Not again.

* * *

_"He lied to you... nothing is as it seems. Come to me and I will show you the truth. Come to me and, together, we can eliminate all who have lied to you. That's what you want, isn't it? You want revenge."_

_"I... I never thought of it as revenge."_

_"Don't feel ashamed, my dear, it's quite alright. It is simply human nature to wish for retribution when another has wronged you. And many have wronged you, haven't they?"_

_"Yes."_

_"And you want them to pay for what they have done to you?"_

_"Yes."_

_"And Itachi? What about him? Will you kill him, too?"_

_"Itachi? But Itachi has never once hurt me. He loves me."_

_"Remember, my dearest Sakura, that nothing is as it seems. Many, many people have lied to you, your mind has been corrupted by love and lies and they want it to stay that way. They don't want you to know the truth. But I do. I'm on your side, my darling. I want only the best for you."_

_"But you hurt me, too."_

_"Is that what he said?"_

_"... Yes."_

_"You do not have to trust me right away, darling. Take some time to think. Once the signs begin to show, however, you will know that the only person you will ever be able to trust is me and me alone. Then you will begin to trust me."_

_"I... I don't know."_

_"You will soon, sweet Sakura. You will soon. Do not tell anybody of this conversation... it was only a dream, alright?"_

_"Alright. It was only a dream."_

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and, when she saw that she was in a room, in a bed, she immediately tensed, wondering where she was. Then she remembered that this was her and Itachi's new home and she relaxed. No more sleeping on the cold hard ground. No more hunting for food. The thought made her smile. This was the Ritz.

But her mind quickly returned to her dream and her optimism trickled away. This had been different from any of her other dreams. While there had been only darkness so that she couldn't see anything, she felt as though she had been actually participating in the conversation instead of listening from the sidelines. And then there was the familiarity of the voice. The hissing quality to it.

Orochimaru. The name struck like lightning through her mind and her anger suddenly flared. He was the reason everything had gone wrong. He was the reason why she and Itachi weren't living a comfy life back in Konoha together. And now he was trying to tap into her subconscious.

She turned to greet her "husband" so that she could tell him about the dream, but found that Itachi wasn't in the bed with her. All there was on his side of the bed was a note left on the pillow. She picked it up and read what it had to say.

_Reina:_

_I've gone to the docks to look for a job, but I'll be back. I left some breakfast in the kitchen for you, so feast well._

_Love, Ritsu_

She sighed and rolled onto her back and draped an arm over her eyes. She wondered if life would be as peaceful here in Waves as she hoped. What if things didn't work out? What if they were unable to find jobs? What if... what if they were found out?

She mentally admitted to herself that that was what was bothering her. Was it okay for them to be out in public, even with their disguises? It wasn't like they'd gotten plastic surgery, after all, so they technically still looked the same. Just because their hair was different and they wore different clothes and coloured contacts didn't change their face, their bodies. If somebody were to take a picture of the old her and put it beside her, the resemblance would be noticeable.

Even if that didn't happen, that letter to Konoha was certain to cause some unrest. Tsunade was probably making plans to find her as she lay in this bed, worrying. That idea scared the hell out of her because she knew that to return to Konoha meant losing Itachi. And being without Itachi just wasn't something she wasn't willing to deal with.

The horrible sound that she recognized as their apartment door opening pulled her out of her depressing thoughts and she tensed, unwilling to rule out the possibility that it wasn't Itachi walking through that door. She bit her lower lip and reached for the kunai she had tucked under the bed just to be safe, waiting for any sound that would tell her who was there.

After the door closed, there was no other sound and that frustrated Sakura because that didn't rule anybody out. Itachi was still the silent predator he had always been, unable to break the habit of staying stealthy, their landlord was pretty quiet himself and, the option she disliked most of all, other shinobi were silent, too. It could have been anybody.

Then she saw Itachi walk into the room, his head bowed, one hand absent-mindedly running through his short, spiked hair, the other tucked into his pants pocket. Then he looked up and stopped when he saw her. "Oh, you're awake," he murmured.

She nodded. "I was just about to get up anyway."

His hand went back to his hair and he winced, dropping the hand back to his side. "I found a job."

Well, that ruled out one of her lesser worries. She raised her eyebrows in question and sat up, leaning her back against the wall, patting the bed for him to sit beside her.

He sat on his side of the bed and rested his own back against the wall like she did, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. He let out a long, soft sigh, almost unnoticeable if it weren't for the movement of his shoulders, and said, "I'll be working on the docks."

"That's a good thing... isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's the good news. The bad news is that things are going to get a little bit more challenging."

Of course. Just when her doubts began to surface things went wrong. "What do you mean?" she asked, "What happened while you were out? Did anybody recognize you?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, but I saw some unfortunate acquaintances at the docks. But, we'll talk about that later. Right now..." He wiggled until he was laying on the bed on his side and pulled Sakura down with him, crushing her to his chest and holding her there, his arms around her feeling almost desperate.

She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. Could this last forever?

* * *

A/N: But there's nothing interesting about that! It'd be like me saying, "And then Pein died of an aneurysm and Ororchimaru with an STI and Sakura and Itachi lived happily ever after"! Bleck!


	5. Unfinished Business

A/N: Time for some more mind-corrupting! XD

_

* * *

_

"He's lying to you! He doesn't love you; it's all an act so that he can get closer to that one person. It's all a joke. He doesn't want you. He wants him!"

_"But... why would be use me? There are so many other girls he could use."_

_"You were... on hand, so to speak. You were there, you were available, you were attracted to him... he took advantage of all of that and now he has ruined your life."_

_"But I'm happy."_

_"For now, but how long will that last? You gave up everything you once held dear: Konoha; your career as a medic; your friends and family; your virginity. You gave it all up to a man who tells you he loves you but, secretly, has ulterior motives behind his every word. You shouldn't trust a man like that."_

_"And why can I trust you?"_

_"Because," there was a pause so that a chuckle could echo through the darkness, "I can give you your memories back."_

That was when Sakura woke up. She was in a sitting position before she was even able to open her eyes and, when she could, she realized where she was and what she was doing there. She was home, in her bed, Itachi asleep beside her, his arm, which had most likely been at her waist now in her lap.

She placed a hand to her forehead to feel the beads of sweat there. This reminded her of the days when she was suffering from memory-induced insomnia. She was getting about as much sleep as she had been then.

She briefly considered waking Itachi up and telling him about this, but immediately thought better of it. He had a lot on his mind at the moment, mostly concerning that Akatsuki spy. She wasn't going to wake him because she was suddenly dreaming about Orochimaru shouting conspiracy theories at her.

So, she lay back down and covered herself back up, putting Itachi's arm back on her waist. The weight of the appendage on her was comforting and she found herself being slowly lulled back into sleep again.

This time she didn't dream of Orochimaru. This dream was much worse.

_A young Sakura stood before an ANBU uniform-clad Itachi, tears streaming down her face, her body frozen with fear. "I-Itachi...?" Her jaw quivered when no warmth or recognition sneaked into the man's eyes or expression. "Itachi, what's going on?"_

_Itachi started to slowly walk forward and Sakura's terror mounted, but she still couldn't move. She could only stand there helpless as the man drew closer... and closer... and then walked right passed her. "Go home," he told her, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. "You have nothing to do with this."_

_"But... why did you do it?"_

_"Because..." he let the pause draw out as he continued forward and then finally answered, "I felt like it."_

_That answer sent a jolt through Sakura's spine and she finally found herself able to move. She immediately whirled around and chased after him. "Wait! Don't go! Please, Itachi, please!"_

_As soon as the man was within reach, however, he whirled around to face her, his Sharingan activated, an impatient look on his face. The Sharingan in his eyes immediately began to spin and then Sakura's consciousness gave way to something stronger. _

_It wasn't sleep, she still felt totally awake. This was... like a thick black fog had taken control of her mind and she was unable to fight against it. The next time she awoke, she was in a hospital bed, wondering why she was there and just why she felt this ache in her heart, like she'd just lost the only person who meant anything to her. _

This time, when she awoke, she felt tears stinging her eyes. That dream had been different than all the others. While the others had been either complete darkness with voices or odd, blurry oblong-like shapes, this dream had been shown with perfect clarity, every detail perfectly perceptible. So vivid it scared her.

This time she didn't even entertain the thought of waking Itachi up. The dream was absolutely ridiculous—Itachi didn't kill the clan—that she tried to convince herself not to worry about it. She couldn't stop worrying about it, but she still refused to wake Itachi. There was no point when she didn't believe the dream herself.

So, she tried to go back to sleep... but couldn't.

* * *

Orochimaru chuckled, sitting at the campfire, staring into the orange flames with satisfaction. She was beginning to doubt herself. Good.

Pretty soon she would be his and his alone. The destruction of Tsunade, of Konoha and her civilians, of the Uchiha name and, most of all, of the Akatsuki, would be imminent as soon as she was his. She just needed a little more coaxing.

And a few more dreams like the ones he'd dealt her ought to do the trick. He chuckled delightedly. Thanks to Itachi's handiwork, she already hated Konoha—and he supposed he did owe the Uchiha some appreciation for that—and she hated the Akatsuki by nature—Hell, most people did—but now she only needed to hate Itachi himself and everything would be in order.

Then... and he grew ecstatic at the thought, the true fun would begin. Because, if he couldn't have Sharingan, if he couldn't be all-powerful, if he couldn't rule the entire five nations, then no one could. And no one would. Not if he had any say in the matter.

And so he stood and headed off, allowing the fire to continue burning as he made his exit. He could feel the familiar menacing aura that could only belong to an Akatsuki member drawing nearer and knew exactly what they wanted. Him. Well, they wouldn't get him.

Because he had some business of his own to take care of in Waves.

* * *

A/N: ... Uh-oh...


	6. Making Amends

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad people are liking it so far. Well... back to Konoha!

* * *

"What do you mean, 'He found out'?!" Tsunade exclaimed, jumping from her chair and leaning over her desk to glare at Shizune, "Tell me what you mean and I want simple terms, Shizune! Talk to me like I'm an Academy student because I just can't imagine how Naruto could have found out about Sakura when only you, me and the elders—"

"I was on my way to give Naruto his list of missions," Shizune chose to butt-in before the blond lost her balance and took the apprentice down with her, "And he asked me if we'd heard anything about Sakura and... well... he must have seen something in my expression because next thing I know, he's all up in my face, demanding I tell him what I know."

"And you told him?!"

"Well... no... not exactly." Shizune fiddled with a stray thread at the end of her kimono that suddenly became very conspicuous to her.

"Then what happened?" the blond asked through a clenched jaw.

"Well... somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, he put two-and-two together. He guessed that Itachi had fed her some lies and that they were now playing Bonnie and Clyde." Then, she added quickly, "I didn't deny or confirm anything and right now, he's just going on his assumptions, but I think he knows he's right."

Tsunade fell back into her chair, completely and utterly dumbfounded. "Do you mean to tell me that Naruto made a mental leap that would actually require the use of brain power? That he concluded that Sakura is now rogue _on his own_? Because, if so, the explanation is much more complicated than I had first imagined."

"He may be slower than most people, Tsunade-sama," Shizune replied dryly, "But he is capable of intelligent thought from time to time."

Tsunade's only response was a snort of incredulity.

"We're getting off-topic here, Milady. Naruto's probably on his way here now and, at any moment, he could—"

"You old bitch of a hag!" the two women heard an enraged male roar from outside the office and, before they had a chance to warn each other that Naruto had decided to grace them with his presence, the door was flung open, practically breaking off of its hinges from the force with which it had been pushed. The currently red-faced blond stormed into the small office, his hands clenched into fists, his face twisted with rage and his cyan eyes practically glowing with his fury.

Tsunade sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. She really didn't need this now.

"Tell me..." Naruto commanded through a clenched jaw, his chin inclined, his eyes glaring furiously down his nose at her as he forced himself to keep enough control not to destroy Hokage tower let alone the office he stood in, "Tell me... what the _fuck_... happened to... SAKURA-CHAN!" The exclamation of the girl's name was accompanied by Naruto plunging a fist onto Tsunade's desk, leaving a hole in its place.

Tsunade blinked a few times, staring at the hole in her desk with interest. She looked back up at Naruto's enraged face and blinked a few times more. Okay. So Naruto was really angry. She had anticipated he would be, but... but this was going a little overboard, wasn't it?

"You might want to do as he says!" She turned to the person who had hissed the suggestion in a loud whisper only to find that Shizune was now sneaking out of the office, tip-toeing backward so as not to catch the attention of the perturbed young man.

The blond Hokage cleared her throat and tried to give Naruto a level stare. It didn't have as much strength in it as she would have liked, but it was to be expected. She had never seen this boy look so... so... truly hateful. Even when Sasuke had left, he hadn't acted like this. He obviously still had strong feelings for Sakura.

"Naruto... I..."

"What the hell happened?!"

She had to close her eyes to keep the pain from showing on her face. How could she tell him that she had sent the woman he loved off to a death sentence with the man that had killed Sasuke's family, with the man who wanted Naruto dead? How could she tell him that? "She ran off with Itachi," she confided quietly, "We don't know where they are."

She looked up just in time to see the Kyuubi container fall into the chair Shizune had been sitting in before. There was no more anger on his face, just a hollow sadness that hurt for Tsunade to see on this particular person. Never had she seen him look so dead. And she hated the fact that she'd been the one to cause it.

"Is there somebody out there looking for her?" he asked.

"Not yet," she answered, "We haven't decided what we should do yet."

A spark of anger ignited in the junior shinobi's eyes, but he seemed to have regained control of himself. "You're just going to give up," he murmured with a dark sort of awe in his tone, "You sent her into a death sentence knowing what would happen and you have to _decide_ whether you want to help her?" His face twisted again, but there was no anger, only a look of pain and sorrow and hatred. "You fucking bitch." Tears welled and quickly overflowed Naruto's eyes, rolling down his cheeks and landing on his hands clenched into fists on his legs. He choked back a sob and stood, wiping the tears away with his sleeve. "Fine, Sasuke and I will get her back."

"I assigned you different missions to keep you busy."

"Fuck the D-ranks!" he exclaimed, "This is your entire fault! I warned you, but you wouldn't listen and now she's somewhere out there with some psychopath—"

"I think you mean sociopath," Tsunade amended for him, but immediately bit her tongue when he glared hatefully at her.

"I'm getting Sakura-chan back and I don't care what you have to say about it!"

"You'll be declared missing-nin." She hated doing this to him, but knew that she had to keep Naruto inside the village, "You'll never become Hokage."

He paused a moment, his back to her, rigid. Then, he sighed and looked over his shoulder as he said, "If it means making decisions like the one's you've made, I don't want to be Hokage. Put somebody else on the job." With that, he walked out and Tsunade could do nothing but stand there, shocked.

She hadn't expected that.

Sitting back in her chair, she wondered what she could possibly do. Naruto was right: He'd told her to forget about the mission, that it would only cause trouble, but she hadn't listened. And now nobody was happy. Well, Sakura was probably happy, she considered, but only because of her blissful ignorance.

But how long could Itachi continue to play this game? When would he get tired and decide that it was time to kick Sakura to the curb? Then Sakura would have nowhere to go, nobody to lean on. Not even a shoulder to cry on.

She sighed and told herself to let Naruto find her and bring her home. It was the least she could do to make amends.

* * *

A/N: Yes, yes it is! Baaaaad Tsunade! DX Well, please review!


	7. All For Love And Love For All

A/N: Okay, I finished chapter eight last night, but I seem to be stuck at the moment, so don't be afraid if I randomly stop posting for a little while because I need to figure out a way to get my ideas from my brain to my word processor. Wish me luck! 8D

* * *

"How long has it been since we received contact from Kisame and Zetsu?" Pein asked, his tone oddly calm considering the situation and his rapidly depleting temper.

"A week," Konan answered, not bothering to look up from the book she was reading. She didn't seem too worried about the whole thing.

"And there's still been no news? What's taking so long?!" Okay, well, maybe the calm was just a front. Maybe he was really just one big ball of gunpowder with a fuse waiting to be lit. Maybe he was ready to snap Itachi's neck and get everything out of the way.

"Connections are slow," the Akatsuki kunoichi answered with a nonchalant shrug, "We going with snail mail. It's not like radios would work with so much distance between us and Kisame."

"... How far of a distance?"

"The last letter said that Orochimaru seemed to be on his way to Waves and that they would be there in a few weeks with how slow traveling seems to be in the dense forest."

"A few weeks, huh?" There was a calculating undertone to Pein's voice that finally made Konan look up from the book to quirk a brow at him. "Come, Konan, let's go see what's going on with Kisame and perhaps even get a word in with Orochimaru."

"Seriously?" Konan asked dryly, setting down her book.

Pein nodded. "Let's go."

With a martyred sigh, Konan stood and followed Pein.

* * *

"You sure about this?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the wall, his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms folded over his chest, "Are you really willing to give up your home for Sakura?"

"You did it, Sakura-chan did it," he pointed out grimly, only half-joking, "Just think of it as my following this obviously popular trend."

"But you have so much to lose."

"And you didn't? And Sakura-chan didn't?"

"Stop making this about us," Sasuke demanded, narrowing his eyes at the blond, "This is about you and your choices. What do you plan to do when you run into Sakura and Itachi, hm? Gonna just take him out, toss Sakura over your shoulder and run hell for leather?"

"Actually, I thought that, if we put our heads together, we'd think of something."

Sasuke was silent and Naruto turned to him to see his eyes suddenly very dark, his expression grim. "You expect me to come along." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"She did it for you," she told him.

He winced and looked away, sighing. "It's... It's not a good idea for me to go where Itachi is. I've managed to move on, so seeing him would—"

"How can you just give up on Sakura-chan?! She did so much for you and you're just going to forget it all now that she needs your help? If you're the only one that can kill Itachi, then I need your help!" Naruto moved away from the things he was packing to approach Sasuke, a pleading look in his eyes. "Please."

Sasuke sighed.

"I know you love her, too."

That caught the Uchiha's attention. He turned to the blond, pain on his face, and clenched his jaw. A look of uncertainty flashed in his obsidian eyes for a mere moment and then he stood back to his full height. "Give me twenty minutes to pack and I'll meet you at the border." With that, he left.

* * *

Sakura sat silently as Itachi explained the situation to her. A spy was in Waves. He was currently unaware of their true identities, but that probably wouldn't last much longer. They were in danger. They had to get out.

"But I thought we would be safe," she whispered, "I thought that, if we stayed in a civilian village and didn't bring any attention to ourselves, we wouldn't have to worry of any Akatsuki finding us."

"I never took into account the fact that there could be spies in civilian villages. We'll have to leave as soon as possible and go somewhere else."

_"It's a plot to keep you unhappy," _Orochimaru whispered conspiratorially. _"He wants to make you miserable."_

She grit her teeth, wondering if Orochimaru wasn't right after all. "Where?" she asked and Itachi couldn't miss the hint of hostility in her voice. "Where will we go if we're not even safe in civilian territory? Back to the forests? Live with wolves and hunt our food, never knowing whether we would get to eat the next day or not? Will we sleep in the dirt and, whenever anybody that could even possibly be human comes along, we'll run away and search for a new home? Is that how we're going to live our lives, Itachi?"

"We'll do what we have to in order to survive. I won't allow Pein to separate us."

She was surprised be the sharpness of Itachi's words and looked up at him to see that his Sharingan had activated of its own accord. This was obviously a sore subject. She quickly stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. "I'm sorry. I was rude. Anywhere we go; wherever we're forced to live... it will be perfect as long as we're together. It wasn't as though I disliked living in that abandoned cottage."

Itachi's hard look softened and he gathered her in his arms, holding her close. "And we will be together. No matter what happens, no matter who tries to force us apart, we will be together."

Sakura heard a low chuckle from the dark recesses of her mind and tried to force it back, but found that she couldn't. _"He's lying... he's planning something... he will leave you. I promise you that, my darling."_

_No, he won't, because he loves me._

_"No, he doesn't."_

_He has to... because _I _love _him_. _With that last thought, she held onto Itachi tighter and buried her face in his chest. Yes, he _had_ to love her because she would have nothing without him.

* * *

A/N: I don't think I like this chapter very much.


	8. Teaming Up

A/N: Sorry for taking so long on the update... please don't hurt me, okay? Anyway, I am slowly but surely coming out of that block and I'm quite close to finishing chapter eleven! XD Okay, enjoy the chap!

* * *

"Orochimaru." The greeting itself was casual enough, but it wouldn't take a genius to decipher the tone of authority in the speaker's voice. "How wonderful it is to see you again."

Orochimaru stopped, turned to flash Pein a quick smile before turning and heading off again.

"Why don't you and I have a little chat?" Pein asked, still remaining casual, but not giving up that little hint of superiority. "It's been so long and we have much to discuss."

"I would really love to," Orochimaru replied, making sure to look regretful, "But I have some business to take care of elsewhere and I don't have much time to take a stroll down memory lane."

"Business with the Uchiha bastard?"

Orochimaru actually turned at that and allowed his smirk to fall. "So, you want them, too?"

"Only Uchiha," Pein answered, willing to divulge that much of his own information.

"What a coincidence," Orochimaru chuckled, his smile returning, "I want the girl. I guess that means that we do not have to fight and so I must be leaving. It was very nice to see you again, but I really am a very busy man and—"

"I suggest a truce between you and the Akatsuki," Pein cut-in impatiently, "You want Haruno, I want Uchiha. We will have a better chance of success if you temporarily rejoin us to complete this endeavour."

"Are you asking for my help?"

"No."

"Well..." Orochimaru pursed his lips in thought for a moment, then answered, "Well, it would be nice to have Itachi out of the way so that I may have the girl. Alright, Pein, we have a deal."

Pein nodded. "First, tell me where they are."

Orochimaru quirked an amused brow, but answered, "Waves."

Again, Pein nodded and looked to where Kisame and Zetsu were lurking in the trees. "Kisame, you will accompany Orochimaru to Waves. Once there, you may... convince Uchiha to return."

Kisame chuckled and closed the distance between himself and Orochimaru, walking off with him. "It's been a while since I've been in my home country, this will be interesting."

* * *

Itachi found it hard to work around the Akatsuki spy known as Hikaru, but willed himself to do it anyway. It wouldn't be for much longer, after all. He and Sakura were preparing to leave Waves very soon, but they couldn't until they got just a little bit more information about the situation concerning the Akatsuki.

"So, this chick, Haruno Sakura, a former Konoha kunoichi, tried to kidnap that Kyuubi kid and turn him over to the Akatsuki, but he got away. Nobody heard anything from her for a really long time after that, but rumors have been getting around that she'd been admitted into the Akatsuki, had a tryst with one of the members and went AWOL only to die after."

"They died?" Itachi had to pretend to act surprised by that bit of information.

"So the rumors say," Hikaru answered, chuckling, "But they may not even be true."

Itachi nodded. "Right."

"But, honestly, I don't believe it," Hikaru continued with a shrug, "I mean, Akatsuki is tailing them and they die through an accident? Yeah, it's possible, but highly unlikely. They, apparently, managed to stumble into a mine field and got blown up. C'mon, they're shinobi, for Christ's sake, they're not going to 'stumble' into anything! And they were in known Akatsuki territory. It's just stupid."

Itachi had to keep himself from ringing the man's neck. The plan had been the only plausible idea he could come up with in such short notice and it had worked out fairly well if he and Sakura were still alive. But, seriously, if a goddamn fisherman could come to this conclusion, what was the Akatsuki thinking? Okay, well, if he were to give Hikaru his dues, he was, technically, a part of the Akatsuki, he just didn't know it. So, his thought processing would still be above average even if he didn't know he was a spy.

But, nonetheless, it was extremely doubtful that the Akatsuki hadn't clued into the farce of his and Sakura's deaths and this conversation had only solidified that theory. And there was even a chance that the terrorists had trailed them here and, if that was the case, well... they had to get out. Now.

* * *

"_He's going to hurt you," _Orochimaru's voice sang cheerily and Sakura growled in response, _"It's going to happen very soon and, when it does, you'll be heartbroken. But he won't care. Oh, no, he'll be too busy with what he really wants to even cast a glance your way while you cry._

"_And that is why you should come to me. Revenge is so close at hand, my dear, that all you have to do is come to me and the hard part will be over. So? What are you waiting for? Come to me!"_

"No thanks," Sakura grumbled, sitting on her couch, trying to ignore that annoying voice, but unable to. Because there was always that possibility that he was telling the truth. Anything was possible, after all.

"_That's right, dearest Sakura, anything and everything is possible. Even if you don't want it to be possible, it will remain possible nonetheless. That's just how this world works. So let's destroy that world together!"_

"No."

_"You will change your mind, dear. You'll see."_

Sakura didn't believe him. But she also had no idea that Orochimaru and Kisame were swiftly drawing closer to Waves. In fact, they were listening with slight annoyance to the boatman's "Songs of the Sea" right at that moment.

No, she didn't believe it, but soon... soon she would.


	9. Ultimatum to Save Her Life

A/N: Okay, seriously, please review? Because, so far, it seems that not many people are enjoying the story and, if that's the case, I'll move on to something else. I've got a few different story ideas that I could be doing in lieu of this one, so, if you want the story continued, please review.

* * *

"Howdy, partner." Itachi froze at the familiarity of that voice. "Never thought you'd be here of all places, but I gotta say, it sure is nice to be home. Oh, and you changed your look, too, what a pleasant not-so-unexpected surprise."

Reluctantly, the former Uchiha turned slowly to face the Akatsuki member known as Hoshigaki Kisame and, when he saw the gray-skinned man, his heart sank and he knew that he was in some deep, deep shit. He tried to hide his vexation behind his usual veil of indifference, but found his resolve dwindling. He knew he was screwed.

"I love the look of complete and utter displeasure," Kisame said light-heartedly, "It's a welcome sight from a man such as you."

Itachi snarled and Kisame chuckled. The Uchiha wondered if he'd be able to fight off his former partner, but quickly tossed away that idea. It was true that he was a great deal smarter than Kisame, but what the man lacked in brain power he made up with brute strength... enough that Itachi would be no match in a setting like this. Besides, fighting would only bring with it the unwelcome attention of the villagers. It wouldn't be smart to bring that sort of attention to himself this late in the game.

Okay, so fighting was out. But then, what else was there for him to do?

"Relax," Kisame said, patting the air with one beefy hand as though that would ease the hostility floating in it, "Leader-sama has me playing messenger boy for him, so you, that little girlie of yours and this village are safe. For now."

Itachi's eyes narrowed and the addition.

"Why don't we walk ant talk?" Kisame suggested, still acting casual but not bothering to mask the hint of malice in his tone. "We could go grab a bite to eat. I've always enjoyed Waves' filleted salmon." Without waiting for an answer, he turned and headed off, Itachi following very reluctantly.

* * *

"He wants you back," Kisame said as he ate his meal messily, making all sorts of unappetizing sounds as he shoved the food into his mouth, "He'll even let the girl live. All you have to do is leave with me."

"And if I don't?"

"You might as well have committed suicide because that would at least save this cute little village from destruction."

"Pein is willing to wipe out a civilian village to get to me and Sakura?" Itachi asked with dry incredulity and a quirk of his brow, "That seems fairly pointless."

Kisame shrugged. "I don't try to understand Leader-sama's brand of logic. All I know is that he's pissed off and doesn't like getting screwed over. So, he will stop at nothing to get you back where you belong."

"I don't belong in Akatsuki."

"Leader-sama seems to disagree."

"The only reason I joined Akatsuki was to get to Orochimaru. When he fled, I no longer had a reason to stay there, but I had no way out. Now I'm out and I'm not going back. Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise."

Something dark passed over Kisame's eyes as though he had been hoping Itachi would say that so that he could foil the Uchiha's plans. "What if we took you by force?"

"I won't join."

"What if we took the little girlie, too? Leader-sama is being kind enough to let her live as long as you do as we say. If you don't, if you choose to continue fighting against us, you'll not only be forfeiting your life but hers as well."

Itachi barely managed to suppress a cringe. That changed things. But still... "Sakura had nothing to do with this. Leave her out of it."

"But she has everything to do with you and you are what Leader-sama is interested in. So, in a way, she's as much a part of this as you are. Guilty by association and all that."

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Itachi thought that bit over. "You won't touch her?"

"If you leave with me, we won't touch a single hair on her precious little head. We won't so much as cast a glance her way if it pleases you."

He paused a moment to think. Either he went back to the Akatsuki, abandoned Sakura, thus saving her life while dooming his own to misery or he stuck with her, fought against the Akatsuki, most likely dieing in the process, and thus dooming Waves and all of her citizens to death. The thing was—and he knew it was selfish, but it was the truth nonetheless—he'd already sacrificed his own happiness once before and it had cost him everything he held dear. He wasn't sure he was willing to go through that again.

In other words—and this was where things got really selfish—he'd rather die than lose Sakura a second time. He doubted she'd appreciate that level of devotion when it was also her life on the line, but he couldn't deny the fact that life just wasn't the same without her there.

Then he shook his head and knew that he would never condemn Sakura to death. That was why he'd left her back in Konoha all those years ago and, if it was a matter of life and death, he saw no other reasonable choice.

So, knowing that his choice had already been made for him, he sighed. "Give me twenty-four hours."

"No more."

"I know."

It was Kisame's turn to sigh. "Meet me here tomorrow. You don't show, Waves goes down in the books as one of the many villages Akatsuki annihilated. Don't make this place a statistic." With that said, he stood, but stopped and added as an afterthought, "Oh, and as a sort of security..." He brought his hands together in the hand seal for Release and then smirked. "You'll see what I did in about, oh... thirty seconds." With a chuckle, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Itachi blinked and waited, wondering what Kisame meant. Then, he heard the sound of labored breathing and turned to see Yoshida Hikaru rushing toward him, a look in his eye Itachi had never seen there before.

He cursed his luck. Perfect.

"Uchiha-sama," Hikaru greeted with a quick, flustered bow and then said, "Hoshigaki-sama has given me orders to accompany you and assist you in any way you need."

"That bastard," Itachi grumbled bitterly and then sighed, telling Hikaru, "Come with me. I have a plan."

* * *

A/N: ... I _really_ hate Kisame.


	10. Misery Loves Company

A/N: Alright, well, I'm still getting, like, all of three reviews, but I'm not going to quit the story. It wouldn't be fair to those who are actually reviewing if I just stopped uploading. So, these chapters are for you, my lovelies! n.n

* * *

Sakura busied herself with packing the last of the few objects she possessed. She wondered briefly if she would have to leave anything behind to make for easier and quicker travelling, but decided against it. All she really had were the "camping" supplies they'd bought at that outpost town before leaving for Waves and a few outfits. And the outfits were light enough that they wouldn't make a difference. So, in the rucksack they went.

She looked around the small, run-down apartment that they hadn't yet paid a single cent for and sighed a little sadly. The place was a dump, it was really, really gross, it was definitely far down in the quality scale than other places she'd lived, but she liked it, nonetheless. It felt like home, the place she could go to for comfort and warmth.

And she would need a lot of that in the near future. Living in a tiny little shack of a cottage with no power, a puny cot and the only heat coming from a wood-burning furnace wasn't exactly the epitome of cosiness. But she would stand by her man even if it meant cold toes and an uncomfortable, cramped bed. She would stand by Itachi no matter what.

Then a crashing sound broke the silence and she turned a surprised glance toward the apartment door. She wondered if she should peek out and see what had happened, but she wasn't particularly interested in mixing herself up in a fight. But still... she was curious to know what was going on and who was disturbing the silence of her afternoon.

So, she walked to the door and jerked it open, ignoring the horrible complaints it made and looked outside, only to pause. Was it just her or was there an Itachi standing outside his door with his boss, wearing an Akatsuki cloak? No, no, that wasn't possible. Itachi had given up the Akatsuki and had discarded his cloak. This had to be a figment of her imagination.

Then, he turned to her and Sakura's breath hitched. That look on his face... she'd seen it before. But where? It looked so familiar, so out of place and yet so fitting there that she couldn't figure out whether this was really Itachi or not. Then, she remembered. The dream... the one Orochimaru had given her where Itachi had actually killed the clan. He had the exact same look on his face then that he did now.

"Ritsu... what...?" What are you doing? What's the matter? Why do you look so dead? Why are you just standing there? Why aren't you saying anything? She wanted to ask all of these questions, but her tongue seemed unattached to the rest of her body. It wouldn't move. She couldn't talk.

What was going on?

"Sakura," Itachi finally spoke, the first word out of his mouth being her name. His voice was just as dead as his eyes and the sound sent her blood running cold. With that tone of voice, her name sounded more like a curse than a greeting.

"What...?"

When his lips quirked up, Sakura didn't feel reassured, quite the opposite, actually. The smirk was cold and full of venom and that's when she knew. Something was seriously wrong.

"Sakura," Itachi repeated a little louder and this time allowed other words to follow the curse of her name, "It's over, this lover's game."

"L-Lover's game?" she repeated uncomprehendingly, "Over? I don't.... I don't understand."

"It is over," he over-enunciated, talking with a tone that made it sound like he was speaking to a slow child with hearing problems, "I have to say, it's been fun, but it's getting a bit old. Time to find other endeavours to amuse ourselves."

And that, dear readers, was when she understood. _Something_ wasn't seriously wrong, _everything_ was seriously wrong. And she couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Why was Itachi dressed like that? Why was he talking to her with that tone of voice? Why did his eyes look so dead and yet the rest of his face look so indifferent? What was he saying? Why was he saying it? What the hell was going on?!

"Ritsu... why are you..."

He quirked a vaguely amused brow, that dead look remaining, and then asked, "Did you honestly think this would last forever? Seriously, it was fun, we had some good times and your reactions were really quite refreshing, but I really don't think this... this... game can stay enjoyable for much longer. So, I'll go back to Akatsuki, you'll go... wherever you choose to go. Though you may not want to stay here much longer, I doubt you'll be welcomed so warmly when the villagers learn of your true identity."

"Akatsuki...? But they'll kill you!"

The sound that escaped Itachi's throat could have been a chuckle, but Sakura wasn't sure since there was no hint of amusement on his face. "They won't kill me. They've known of my plans for quite a while now. Do you honestly think this was my first time doing something like this?"

Sakura's jaw fell open at that last inquiry.

"No, I've done this many, many times. It's my duty. The stronger the kunoichi, the better. Because now you can't return to Konoha and thus Konoha has lost another shinobi. And, just a couple more times and I'll be able to finish the job that I started all those years ago with the Uchiha clan."

"What?" she whispered, tears welling in her eyes, "But you said Orochimaru killed the Uchiha clan!"

Itachi almost laughed. "So gullible. That's not a particularly beneficial trait for a shinobi to have, but I shouldn't complain. Gullibility is what gives me the ability to do things like this over and over and over."

"If this is some kind of joke, I really need to teach you what funny is," she told him, her voice wavering with each word, her tone not one of resentment or confusion but of fear and hope. Hope that this was some crazy, hurtful, but equally untrue joke. That Itachi wasn't serious. That he didn't mean any of the words he was saying. "If you wanted me out of the way, why didn't you just kill me?"

He must have noticed this, because he shook his head with a sigh, "I had intended our... 'relationship' to be the bait that would send even more of Konoha's most valuable shinobi after you and I've done just that. They're looking for you and I intend to destroy them all. Especially my precious little brother who I should have killed long, long ago. But things grew troublesome. You're much different than the others. You got more involved that the others did. This might actually hurt."

Sakura's confusion and fear were beginning to transform into something more. Her hands balled into fists, her jaw clenched, her lips pursed, her eyes narrowed and her back curved, falling into a stance. She was angry. She was furious. She was not going to listen to anymore of this. She no longer cared if this was a joke or not, he was going to feel her anger. "It'll hurt alright," she growled, reared back and then lunged at him.

Itachi managed to step aside just in time and move a foot forward at exactly the right moment and Sakura tripped, falling forward. She didn't have time to raise her arms to break her fall and so she landed right on her chest, the wind rushing out of her lungs with a choking whoosh. And, before she could find the will to get up, Itachi's knee was at her back, keeping her down while his hands pulled her arms behind her.

"So many times we've fought for fun... so many times we've laughed at each other's injuries... so many times we've made supposed love and now... it's all over," he said and she could hear the chuckle in his voice. Then, she felt his lips at her ear as he whispered menacingly, "Deal with it."

"Why... are... you... you..." she managed to gasp that much out before Itachi pulled her arms back further, causing her to gasp in pain.

"You were on hand," he told her, the words too familiar, "You were there, you were available, and you were attracted to me. What can I say? I have to do my job and you got what you wanted, a good fuck."

"No!" she cried, fighting against him, but only making him hold her wrists with one hand, grab a fistful of her hair with the other and jerk her head up. She cried out in pain and he chuckled, the action sounded slightly forced. It was just her imagination, she decided. "That wasn't it! I wanted... I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere. I wanted... to really and truly be loved by somebody, to know what it felt like to be with somebody without being afraid of them lying to me."

"You wanted that?" Her imagination made his voice choke slightly, "Then you should have listened to Konoha... because they told you the truth. And now Sasuke will be the first to pay for your mistake." And then the weight was off of her back and she looked over her shoulder to watch as Itachi walked around her toward the door to the stairwell. "Watashi no taisetsu... farewell." And, with that, he disappeared as the door closed behind him.

_S... Sasuke was the one he wanted? W-Was that why he'd always asked about him at the base? He wanted Sasuke... and I let him fool me!_

Her jaw quivered, the tears that had welled in her eyes escaped, her breaths came and went in ragged gasps. She was vaguely aware that she was on the verge of hyperventilating, but she didn't care. All she could fully concentrate on were those last words. "Watashi no taisetsu... farewell." His beloved? Since when?

She shook her head, whispering, "No..." As she repeated the monosyllabic word over and over, her voice raised higher and higher until it was a loud shriek that would send even the most cold-blooded person's—even Itachi's—blood even colder. "No... no... no...! No...! No! No!! NO!!!" She lowered her head to the carpet and she sobbed as the words repeated over and over again in her head, never letting her forget the love that jad once been behind those words but now only the lies. "Watashi no taisetsu... farewell."

Then, she felt a new presence and she looked up to see Orochimaru kneeling before her. He smiled softly when she looked at him, her cheeks tear-stained, and rested his hand on her head, petting her hair lovingly. "Are you ready? Would you like to go now? I can help you take away all of that pain you're feeling."

Fresh tears welled in her eyes as he offered her his free hand. She took it and he stood, helping her up. He placed a kiss to her forehead and smirked. "We can now consider all of our enemies dead, my dearest Sakura."

"Dead..." she whispered and she nodded as though that was that only thing in the world that made sense. It _was_ the only thing that made sense to her. "Yes... I want them dead. All of them."

Orochimaru nodded. "Good girl. Then we'd best get going." His hand tightened around hers and then he turned toward the door leading toward the stairwell. "Then let us go."

* * *

A/N: Aaaaand... now that this is uploaded, I have to go to work! Hope you enjoyed!


	11. Closing In Too Late

A/N: Reviews have picked up! Yayz! Thank you, everybody!

* * *

Sakura was so embarrassed, but if Orochimaru was at all affected as she clutched his hand and sobbed, he didn't show it. He simply walked through Waves without a single care, holding her hand in return and leading her through the gawking crowds. She sniffled and whimpered and sighed and cried and he just held her hand, walking.

"He... he... he..." she stammered, using the back of her free hand to wipe the tears from her eyes, "He... said... he said that... i-it was just a.. a... lover's game!" She finally managed the last bit out between her sobs and the last two words sent her into a more violent fit of sobs. She almost had to stop walking, but Orochimaru just gave a gentle but firm tug to her arm to remind her to keep moving and she was back to walking and crying.

"It's okay," Orochimaru murmured every once in a while, "They'll get their own. We'll make them pay for hurting you so badly."

She nodded and told herself that she wanted Itachi to pay. Her shoulders still ached; her stomach was hurting; her eyes stung from the tears and, most of all, her heart felt as though somebody had dropped a lead weight on it. She wondered if the thing was still even beating or if Itachi's betrayal had been the final straw that broke her heart.

She didn't care. She honestly couldn't care less if her heart continued to beat or not, she didn't care if her lungs stopped taking in oxygen, she didn't care if her eyes stopped seeing, if her ears stopped hearing, if she turned cold, fell to the ground and rotted. She didn't care if she died because here, in this village, on this earth, in this life, she had nothing. Nothing... except for Orochimaru.

But she didn't allow any expectations or commitments to cloud her mind or her judgement. He would leave her, too, and she knew it. He would leave her just like everybody else had; it was only a matter of time. But still, she didn't have the energy to leave him before he left her. All she knew was that, right then, he was holding her hand and handing her reassurances while she cried... and that was what she needed most at that moment.

That was all she'd ever needed.

* * *

She'd believed him much quicker than he'd thought she would. Itachi had expected she'd put up a fight and, even though he'd told himself that he wished she would let him go, spare him the agony, he had actually wanted to see her fight. He had wanted to see the proof of her love for him. But she accepted it so quickly... she only argue a couple times! Had she really been so doubtful of him all this time? Or was there some outside influence?

"That was quicker than I thought it'd take," Kisame commented with a chuckle as Itachi walked down the path leading to the ocean and then passed him by without a word. Kisame shook his head and rolled his eyes with a smirk and turned to follow after the Uchiha. "Good to see the old you back."

"Shut up and let's get out of here," Itachi replied, continuing onward, "This place stinks."

"I've never really minded the smell of salt water, actually," Kisame replied conversationally, taking in a deep breath through his nose and exhaling on a sigh. "Now _this_ is my environment."

"No..." Itachi murmured, bowing his head and walking quicker, "It smells... like civilization." Kisame said something after that, but he hadn't been listening. He was too busy trying to make it look like he wasn't crying over the loss of Sakura.

At least she would live, though, he told himself as he took in a deep breath to calm his nerves and then grit his teeth. He'd dealt with the agony before and he'd done quite well for himself. He'd even managed to tell himself that the pain was normal, that it would last and that he might be able to ignore it eventually. It would be harder this time, but he would get by like he had last time.

He could make it all by himself. After all, that was what he'd done for the majority of his lifetime.

* * *

"Do you feel that?" Naruto asked, stopping on a tree branch, "This chakra signature... there's two—no, three of them that are really familiar."

Sasuke stopped beside him on the same branch and closed his eyes in concentration, only to open them moments later, his eyes red with Sharingan. It would seem that he recognized them, too. Then, his lips pulled back in a snarl and he ground out between a clenched jaw, "Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Naruto repeated incredulously, "Why would he be here? What business could he have in Waves?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it's a coincidence that I feel both Sakura's and Itachi's in the same direction as his. He probably has something to do with all of this and I'll bet your favourite bowl of ramen on me that he's there for Itachi."

"I'll take that bet," Naruto replied, kicking off of the branch and following the chakra signatures.

They were close to Sakura, they could feel it. Soon, all three of them would be heading back to Konoha and everything would be okay again. Neither of them would let Itachi or Orochimaru hurt her and they would make sure that anybody that _did_ hurt her would be punished severely. They would repent with their lives.

* * *

A/N: Well, I've mapped out the ending of this story and I have to say that I really like it. I've still yet to actually write it out, but it's all in my noggin, so I'll be able to write it out when I get that far. Thank you again for the reviews!


	12. You'll Never Believe It

A/N: Next chapter! Wootage!

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When Naruto and Sasuke noticed that the petite girl with black hair that was walking through the crowd, crying, was Sakura, well... needless to say, they were surprised. Not as surprised as when they noticed that it was Orochimaru carting her around, holding her hand as though she were a five-year-old child. That, and the fact that Sakura wasn't fighting against him both had the two of them dumbfounded.

"Should we... confront them?" Naruto asked in a hushed voice, glad to see that neither Sakura nor Orochimaru had noticed their presence yet.

"No, Itachi has to be around here somewhere."

Naruto chose to ignore that. All of this was to get Sakura back, not to kill Itachi and he would be damned if he let Sasuke's unquenchable need for vengeance get in the way of his mission. "I'm going after them," he told Sasuke, knowing full-well that his tone of voice displayed his feelings about Sasuke mentioning the elder Uchiha on such a mission, "With or without you. Choose."

Sasuke sighed, pushing his bangs out of his face, "I didn't mean... that I was going after Itachi instead of Sakura, I'm saying that he may come after _us_."

"Like I care," the blond growled, leaving their safe corner and approaching the departing Sakura and Orochimaru. He sped up and was half aware that Sasuke was following on his heels, but paid no attention. He was in shinobi mode and his eyes were on his target. His senses were tuned to his surroundings, but his attention was on Sakura.

He _would_ get her back.

"Sakura-chan," he called and stopped his approach when both she and Orochimaru halted. He glared at the pale snake man when he turned to fix impatient eyes on him and Naruto turned pleading eyes to Sakura. "Come back to Konoha, okay?"

"I thought I couldn't go back to Konoha," she spat bitterly and Naruto could see the hatred and hurt and need for comfort in her eyes. It broke his heart. What had Itachi done to her? "I didn't complete the mission and so I can't be considered a Konoha kunoichi."

"But you did," Naruto corrected, "That letter you sent... I didn't get to see it, but I heard that it had all the information we needed. The mission was completed and now you can come home."

Sakura looked away sadly and told him, "Konoha isn't my home anymore. I'm... not going back."

But Naruto didn't give in. He only straightened his back, balled his hands into fists and said with more confidence than he ever had, "Then I won't go back until I convince you to come back."

Orochimaru let out a sigh of weary irritation and grumbled, "Oh, what a bother. Listen; can't you two go play somewhere else? I've gone to a lot of trouble for this girl and your presence is rather bothersome at the moment.

The glares Naruto and Sasuke sent the much older man would have made a lesser man cower in fear, but, knowing that Orochimaru wasn't a lesser man, it wasn't at all unexpected when he sighed again, let go of Sakura's hand, gave her an affectionate pat on the head and then turned to the two Konoha shinobi. The smile that had been on his face not long before was now nowhere to be found. "I suggest you two run along before somebody gets hurt. I'm trying very hard to gain Sakura's trust and violence is not going to help me attain it."

Naruto scoffed. "I don't care. We're not leaving until we have Sakura-chan!"

"Where's Itachi?" Sasuke wondered aloud, looking around with narrowed eyes.

"Seriously, Sasuke?" the blond asked with exasperation, "Can't Sakura-chan be more important than your stupid brother right now?"

"No, I mean, where is he? If he wants her, too, shouldn't he be helping? Or does he intend to stay hidden in the shadows and ambush us like a coward?"

Naruto shook his head with a sigh. When had he become the sane one while Sasuke turned into the knucklehead?

"You..."

Naruto and Sasuke both turned to see Sakura in front of a very amused Orochimaru, her hands balled into fists, her jaw clenched and a look filled with so much hatred Naruto wondered if this was the same girl he'd grown up with. Where was that lively, happy girl he'd always adored? Once again he found himself wondering what Itachi had done to make her like this.

"You..." she repeated, narrowing her cold, hateful eyes on a suddenly bemused Sasuke, "Why are you here? This is all because of you! He wanted you! He used _me_ to get to you! And you were looking for him all this time... well, I guess you got what you wanted. Are you happy?!"

Sasuke blinked in surprise. "I... I don't... I don't understand."

"Just... go," she whispered, looking away, "Just looking at you makes me so... so angry. You look like him!" She buried her face in her hands, but whether it was to hide the tears or to keep from seeing Sasuke, Naruto wasn't sure.

"Sakura-chan, I don't know what Itachi did to you or where he is, but I can understand why you're angry. But please, you have to know that allying yourself with Orochimaru is the worst mistake you could possibly make. You and I fought so hard to get Sasuke back from him because he's bad, so how could you let yourself go away with him?"

"You want to know why?" she asked, her voice a whisper, "Because not a single person has told me the goddamn truth except for Orochimaru! I'm in this situation now because of that!"

"But I told you to run away back in Ame!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You never told me what to run from! How was I supposed to believe anybody if they refused to tell me what it was I was supposed to be avoiding?! Tsunade sent me out there, not telling me the real reason why, you told me to run, not telling me the reason why! The only person who has ever spoken the truth was Orochimaru and today he proved it! Do you know how bad that is?!"

The blond averted his eyes guiltily, but still stood his ground. It was clear that he wouldn't leave without Sakura.

Orochimaru sighed again, looking around at all the gawking villagers. "Bugger," he grumbled under his breath and turned toward Sakura. Before she had a chance to see what he was doing, he had already pinched the pressure point in her shoulder and caught her before she crumpled to the ground. "Sorry, boys," he chuckled, turning toward Naruto and Sasuke, "But I'm afraid time is of the essence and I have many plans for Sakura. We'll see each other again soon, though." With that said, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"He's getting away!" Naruto exclaimed, spinning around to give chase, "Come on, Sasuke, time to go to Sound!"

"Hold it," Sasuke commanded, grabbing the blond's wrist before he could pursue. "Let him go."

"What?! No way! I'm not stopping until I have her back!"

"We aren't stopping, but Orochimaru's stronger than both of us combined. We need help."

"We can't count on Konoha," Naruto argued impatiently, "And, even if we could, we don't have time to get Baa-chan to assemble a squad."

"I never said anything about Konoha."

"Then what are you saying?"

Sasuke sighed, a martyred expression on his face. "We need Itachi's help."

* * *

A/N: Well, it looks like Naruto gets some free ramen, ne?


	13. Sweet Irony With A Bitter Taste

A/N: Yayz! Hooray for next chapters!

* * *

"Well, here we are," Kisame said, reaching the shabby little cottage that doubled as an Akatsuki base. "Home sweet home. I bet you missed it."

Itachi said nothing.

"Isn't it nice that the base is just outside Water country? I can still feel Little Girlie's chakra. It'll be a nice little reminder of just how screwed you are right now."

Again, Itachi said nothing. He only stood with his back facing Kisame, eying the base and waiting for the blow that he knew would come eventually. Of course, Kisame was never one to disappoint and the Uchiha heard Samehada whizzing through the air before he felt the explosion of pain at the back of his head. He felt the pain before he saw the little black stars invading his vision and he saw the stars before he saw nothing else.

* * *

He dreamed of Sakura. She was crying so desperately, curled into a corner of a dimly lit stone room—a cell, he realized—and she shook with the inaudible sobs. Then, he heard somebody chuckle and he didn't have to wonder why the sound was so familiar. He knew. That was the sound that haunted his nightmares. That was Orochimaru.

"He's gone now," Orochimaru stated, chuckling again, "He's dead and now you have nobody."

"Itachi..." She whispered his name as though it was both a prayer and a curse at the same time and, even in unconsciousness, Itachi's stomach turned with despair.

Then, there was nothing.

* * *

When Itachi woke, it was to the horrible pain at the back of his head and a slightly-less-agonizing pain in his shoulder. He managed to blink his eyes open but regretted it when he noticed that everything was dancing in double. He groaned and closed his eyes again.

He was barely able to acknowledge that somebody was talking, but wasn't so lucky when he tried to decipher the sounds that were incomprehensible words. They seemed like gibberish, the sounds seeming to come in slow motion and echoing in his mind, only making his headache worse.

He wished that somebody would knock him out again, but then mentally rolled his eyes (because he didn't have the energy to actually do it). Getting knocked out again would only make it worse when he woke again. Besides, how would he explain this to Sakura?

Sakura... where was she? Was she the one talking? No, that voice was definitely male. Oh, forget Sakura for the moment, where was _he_? Were all of this pain and vision- and cognitive problems the result of some wicked hangover? Naw, not once had he ever drank so much that he didn't remember actually drinking the night before.

So, then, where was he?

"Wakey-wakey, sleeping beauty." The words were said directly above his ear, so he could understand what was being said over the internal echoing. "You got a visitor."

"Tell them..." he paused to let the echoing in his mind subside before continuing, "To come back... shit, it won't... go away."

He heard a chuckle before somebody (most likely the chuckler) grabbed his sore shoulder and forced him into a sitting position. He had to bite back a cry of pain as his aching body unfolded and forced back the vertigo-induced nausea. "Too bad your little Sakura isn't here to heal you, that looks like a dislocated shoulder. Oh, well, no use crying over spilt blood, I'll just have to fix it myself.

Then a new explosion of pain erupted in his shoulder and his aching head was forgotten. This time he did cry out in pain and he couldn't force back the nausea. He heard a curse and decided that his aim was accurate. Good, karma was a bitch.

"He looks pretty out of it," a new voice commented, "You hit him too hard."

"Sorry, Leader-sama, I guess I got carried away. The thought of actually landing a blow on this bastard just got me excited."

"Hm." Silence. "Just don't hit him again. I want him to be lucid when I kill him so that I can look into those eyes as he dies. But, for now, I'll give him a few days to get over that concussion. Now, let's..."

The voices slowly drifted away until Itachi heard a loud slam that hurt his aching head and then a small click. After that, no sound followed and he allowed himself to fall onto his good side.

Well, at least Sakura was alright.

* * *

When Sakura awoke, it was to find herself laying on a tattered old cot with an equally ratty blanket over her.

"Itachi... go open a window, it stinks in here." In her semi-conscious state, she wasn't at all aware of her surroundings or the circumstances that had put her there, so she was surprised when Itachi didn't reply.

When she didn't even hear a sound and no light came on, she opened an eye to see... nothing. Since when was the cottage so dark? Where were the windows? Why did it smell so bad—like rot and mould—and where was Itachi?

As her mind grew more lucid, she began to remember the events that had led to her current setting: Itachi, Orochimaru, Naruto, Sasuke, pain, nothing.

So this was Orochimaru's base? Well, she thought, she didn't mean to nitpick, but couldn't the place be a little more... visible?

The sound of a latch being pulled from its place pulled her from her thoughts and she watched as light flooded across the stone floor. Then, there was a break in the light—a human-shaped break—and she heard footsteps. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see who her visitor was, but couldn't make out the form.

"Haruno Sakura, it's been a long time."

She blinked in surprise and then sighed. Of course she would run into Kabuto here.

"I've brought you some food and water. Orochimaru-sama would have delivered it himself, but I'm afraid he's busy making preparations."

"Preparations for what?"

The silver-haired male chuckled. "The fall of the Five Great Nations, of course."

Sakura blinked in surprise a second time. "Huh...? But I thought Orochimaru only wanted Konoha. Why are we going after all the nations?"

Kabuto shrugged. "That's Orochimaru-sama for you. He feels that, since he'll be taking down one village, he might as well take out all of them and save himself a huge war where everybody gangs up on us."

"I never agreed to that!"

He shrugged again. "Whether you agreed to it or not is irrelevant at this point. You might as well accept that everybody is going to die and you will be playing a part in it."

"What if I refuse?"

Sakura could've sworn she saw Kabuto smirk devilishly. "There will be no refusing. Eat up and Orochimaru will come down when he can." With that, he left, slamming the door shut. She heard him push the latch back into place.

She was locked in, she realized. She wasn't a guest here... she was a prisoner!

* * *

A/N: Took her a while to figure it out, didn't it?


	14. The Plot Is Revealed

A/N: Well, it's quarter after two in the morning, so technically the second day since I updated, so I'm uploading! Yayz! Enjoy the fruits of my insomnia!

Some very low-key unromantic SasuNaru... even though they're not really a love interest in the story, lol. In other words, friendship fluff!

* * *

"It's interesting how I can still feel Itachi's chakra," Sasuke commented mostly to himself since it would appear that Naruto was too busy grumbling to himself to listen, "I guess the base isn't too far out of the country. And he was so close all this time..."

"Sasuke," Naruto called, using what looked like heroic efforts to remain composed.

"Yes?"

"You're an asshole, shut up."

The raven-haired shinobi chuckled and rolled his eyes. Yes, he was an asshole, but only because that's what it took to get Sakura back. Sasuke wanted Naruto happy and Naruto wanted Sakura, so he would get Sakura. And if the blond thought he was being an asshole, then that was just too bad.

"What makes you think he'll want to help us get her back anyway?" the blond queried with an irritated sigh, "He hurt her, remember? He doesn't care about her; he's a cold-hearted bastard... worse than you, believe it or not."

"I'm not so sure," Sasuke replied.

"About which part?"

"I don't know."

Naruto gave Sasuke a quizzical look and the Uchiha smiled sheepishly. "I sneaked a look at the letter Sakura sent Tsunade. It had a lot of information pertaining to the Uchiha massacre and what really happened. From what Sakura said, Itachi didn't do it. Orochimaru did."

"I thought we decided he was lying to her?"

"I had thought so. But why has Orochimaru suddenly appeared, looking for them? Why didn't Itachi just kill Sakura? Why did he run away with her only to leave her in some civilian village to leak all of the Akatsuki's information?"

"Dunno," Naruto answered with a shrug, "That's why Itachi's such a bastard, because he did it without any reason."

"Maybe... or maybe it was all true."

"Then why did he leave her?"

"That's what we're going to find out."

* * *

As time passed, Itachi's head injury began to heal and he was able to remember everything with a stunning, painful clarity. Sakura was gone, he had pushed her away and now he was going to die. And Sakura would never know just how much he loved her.

He sighed in defeat. She was better off without him; all he had ever done for her life was screw it up beyond repair. She deserved a life of stability and happiness, not one of anger, hatred and desolation. She deserved somebody... that wasn't him.

_Without Sakura, I have no life anyway, so I might as well die._

It was only a matter of time... and how badly Pein wanted to torture him before ending it all.

* * *

The next time the door opened, Sakura had no doubt in her mind that it was Orochimaru. Her suspicions were proven correct when she heard that unmistakable chuckle.

"Orochimaru tells me that you're..." he paused to find the right word, "Dissatisfied with our plans."

"Why does everybody have to die?" she asked, sitting forward on the cot, "I thought we were only going after Konoha and the Akatsuki?"

"Silly girl, did you think that this was all about you? So selfish... No, there are many, many people who have spurned me and I intend to exact my revenge. After all, if one bad person deserves to die, don't all bad people deserve to meet the same fate?"

"But then why am I here? If you planned to kill everybody anyway to meet your own ends, why did you bother getting me here?"

The light hitting Orochimaru from the side put a demonic edge to his smirk and Sakura had to suppress the urge to shudder. She felt that the frightening glare hitting his face would remain even if that light wasn't there and that realization scared her. Because this man really was a demon. He asked her, "Did you know that, on the night you lost your memories, the jutsu that took them away also made the one performing it able to tap into their victim's mind at will? No matter what distance lies between us, I can read your mind at will, can place thoughts in your mind... can _control_ your mind."

"I... don't understand."

_I can make you do whatever I please. _Sakura's eyes widened. She could have sworn she'd heard Orochimaru's voice, but his lips hadn't moved, hadn't even twitched! Could he really tap into her mind? Was it possible?"

"I first tried it a little over a year ago. I had sneaked into your mind while you slept and allowed some very vague memories to take control of your dreams. I did this for a number of months and then got a little more..." His smirk widened. "Venturesome. I sneaked into your mind while you were awake—I believe you'd been enjoying an intimate moment with Itachi—and put my voice in your mind."

Sakura tensed. The dreams... the nightmares... that time she'd remembered Orochimaru while she kissed Itachi... all of this had been a part of Orochimaru's plan? "But why? What was the point of all this?"

"The point, dear Sakura, is that I want them _all_ under my control. Either I rule all or there will be nothing left to rule."

"Isn't that a little... well, petty?"

"Isn't wanting to destroy your homeland and kill your former lover out of revenge a little... well, petty?" Sakura hated that mocking tone in his voice.

"But, you know, there are a couple of things about this jutsu that I've been just itching to try but haven't been able to test since I wouldn't be around to see the result."

She was reluctant to listen on.

"I can also trigger certain emotions in your brain. Only the more basic ones, but some of the most destructive. Like, for example, happiness, sorrow or, my personal favourite, rage. And, on top of that, I can take control of your motor skills, making you move even against your own will. So, in short, you are a very valuable tool for me to have in my arsenal."

Sakura scowled. "Itachi didn't lie, did he? You were the one to kill the Uchiha clan, weren't you?"

"You're catching on."

"So..." her voice shook as she asked, "Why did he lie to me?""

"Why do you think?"

She paused for a moment. Then, she scowled and exclaimed, "That idiot!"

* * *

A/N: Yes, for a smart, sexy, attractive, perfect and oh-so-charming man, he is, in fact, an idiot.


	15. Is It Too Late?

Well, it's been decided. There will be twenty-one chapters in total for Reminiscence. Well, technically twenty-two if we were to count the prologue also. But, it turns out that there will also be one more story afterward... because this one is a bit open-ended... again.

I've already come up with a plotline and the title and I can promise you now that the third story will be the last! And there will be no changing my mind because there will be no more plot after the third one!

* * *

"It has to be around here somewhere," Sasuke grumbled, pushing through the dense forest. "The chakra signatures are so strong that it's as if they're right beside us. They have to be in this area."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto replied with a sigh, "I still don't get why we can't take Orochimaru on ourselves. Why do we need stupid Itachi in the first place?"

"Even if we could take Orochimaru on ourselves and still survive—which we can't—Sakura loves Itachi. It's obvious that he would be that extra incentive to get her away from Orochimaru. And Itachi's stronger than him. How could the three of us lose against one of him?"

"How could two of us lose against one of him?" the blond shot back.

"Easily. You and I both know that Orochimaru always has something hidden up his sleeve."

Naruto sighed. "I still say you're an asshole."

"Say what you want." Just as Sasuke said this, he made it out of the bush and found himself looking up at a cliff towering over him. At the bottom of the cliff, directly in front of him, was a boulder blocking the entrance to a cave.

"Akatsuki lives in a cave?" Naruto asked dryly when he saw the cafe for itself.

"It would appear so."

* * *

"Alright, Uchiha," Pein said when he walked into the cell, "It's time to face the music."

Itachi closed his eyes and bowed his head, clenching his fists in his lap. Reluctantly, he stood to his feet, wobbling in place as he tried to find the strength to remain upright. He was so weak. How long had it been since he'd slept? How long had it been since he'd eaten? How long had it been since he'd seen the sunlight?

"Let's go," the Akatsuki leader commanded impatiently, jerking his head toward the hallway, "Get moving."

He raised one foot and paused to make sure he wouldn't collapse, and then set it down in front of the other. He raised the other foot, paused, then placed it before the first. He continued this until he was finally out the door and beside Pein. He squinted, blinded by the light, and allowed the Akatsuki leader to lead the way to his death.

"Sakura..." he whispered.

"We didn't touch her."

"So... she's safe?"

There was something about Pein's chuckle that Itachi didn't like. The orange-haired missing-nin sighed with amusement and answered, "I never said anything about that."

He froze. "What do you mean?"

"Orochimaru's probably killed her by now. You didn't honestly think we'd just leave her to leak our secrets to Konoha, did you?"

"You said you wouldn't touch her!"

"And we didn't. But you never said anything about keeping Orochimaru from getting hold of her. When he told me that he wanted her, I felt no compulsion to stop him. After all, you were going to die anyway and, if you hadn't gone and asked me about her, you could have died with the naive notion that she would live a long, fulfilling life... even though her life has most likely ended before your own."

_Sakura... _His mind clouded with grief and he felt his knees beginning to weaken under the added weight of his anguish. _Sakura's dead? I... let her die?_

"Well? Come on, I'd like to get this done so that I can return to normal business. You have no idea how badly you screwed up operations, Uchiha. At least you can die knowing you gave us a run for our money."

Itachi wasn't listening. He was still trying to work his way through the waves of anguish and self-loathing floating over him. Sakura was dead and it was his fault. He shouldn't have left her. At least if he had stuck with her, he could have died at her side, holding her, telling her everything was going to be okay. But no, she had to die alone, thinking that she had nobody in this world. Perhaps she... had wanted to die?

That thought only made him feel worse.

By the time they made it to the room Pein intended to be Itachi's deathbed, the Uchiha's legs were quivering, his eyes half-lidded, his breathing labored.

"Here we are, Uchiha."

Itachi only walked into the room to find a large table with wrist and ankle straps at the corners. He was too tired to be worried about exactly what Pein had planned.

He was just being strapped to the table when the explosion went off.

_

* * *

_

If Itachi comes for me, I will forgive him,

Sakura resolved, leaning against the stone wall so that she could stay upright, her breathing coming in short, uneven, ragged gasps. _If he comes for me, I'll forgive him. If he comes for me, I'll forgive him. I love him. I don't hate him. I won't kill him._

_Keep telling yourself that, _Orochimaru's voice appeared in her mind and she gasped as her body suddenly became hot. She could feel her boiling blood flowing through her veins, setting every part of her body into invisible flames. She could feel her pulse quickening and she knew that the rage was coming back.

And the cycle started all over again.

"No!" she cried, as her anger gave her renewed strength, "No, no, no, no!" She stood to her full height and whirled to punch the wall. She cried out as she heard a bone snap and that only made the anger worse. "Itachi!" she screamed.

Orochimaru seemed to enjoy putting the rage inside her head. He seemed to like watching her eyes daze over, the hateful voices crowding in her head, overpowering the one voice that told her to fight back. He liked to hear that tiny voice scream, wondering what she would do next. Because, with the rage, came the uncontrollable lust to kill.

And Orochimaru loved that part the most.

"Itachi!" she screamed again, tears of anger and fear falling from her eyes, "Itachi, I hate you!"

* * *

A/N: I really like that last scene. I've never been very good with action-y type things, but I think I've been doing a decent job on this one.


	16. Didn't See That One Coming

A/N: I'm not a huge fan of this chapter myself, but you guys might like it anyway.

* * *

"Okay," Sasuke gasped, pulling the kunai out of his shoulder, "So Akatsuki doesn't live in a cave. But they're still around here somewhere and I'm sure we'll find them if we keep looking."

Naruto grumbled something incoherent and most likely offensive under his breath.

"Come on, let's go." And the Uchiha was up and moving again, heading in another direction. "We're close, I can feel it."

"You've been saying that for the last hour."

"This time I mean it."

"You've been saying that the last forty-five minutes."

"Well, if you don't like it, tune me out and put all of your concentration toward finding the base. If you were to stop whining, we would probably find it sooner."

"But we're just wasting time! Sakura-chan could be dead right now!"

Sasuke only shook his head and continued forward, pushing through some bushes and into a clearing, only to stop. "Do you think it's at all possible that Akatsuki could be living in a cottage?"

"No less possible than the idea of them living in a cave," Naruto replied and pushed forward to see what Sasuke was seeing. "Hey, Sasuke... what's a cottage doing in the middle of nowhere?"

"Dunno."

"Think we should check it out?"

"Probably." But he didn't move. He only activated his Sharingan and narrowed his eyes on the cabin. "Just as I thought, it's a genjutsu. The chakra surrounding this place is off the charts. Especially around the door."

"Meaning that there's a trap," Naruto concluded.

"Exactly. So, we'll have to find another way inside."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

Sasuke chuckled and pulled out a few exploding tags. "These oughtta work." And, with that, he attached them to three different kunai and threw them at the cottage. "Jackpot," he whispered with satisfaction when the explosion took out an entire side of the cottage, expelling the genjutsu to show a huge stone building. "Let's go."

* * *

"What the hell!" Pein exclaimed indignantly after the rumbling subsided. He paused from strapping Itachi down and went to the room's door, shouting, "Kisame! Why didn't you tell me Deidara was coming here?!"

"That wasn't Deidara, Leader-sama!" Kisame corrected, rushing into the room with Samehada in hand. "Those were exploding tags, I saw them go off. We're under attack."

"By whom?" the Akatsuki asked through a clenched jaw.

"Not sure yet, Sir."

"You have got to be kidding me!" With a curse, Pein left the room, followed by Kisame. Apparently the two had forgotten about Itachi for the moment.

He sighed, resting his head against the table. It was probably Orochimaru looking to pick a fight now that Sakura was dead. He stared at the ceiling and then closed his eyes. Let Orochimaru do what he wanted, he didn't care anymore.

"Itachi!" he heard a hissed exclamation and slowly opened his eyes, just as slowly turning his head to see Sasuke rushing into the room. He looked like a man on a mission, his eyes blazing fire.

But Itachi didn't care. Sasuke had probably gone back to Orochimaru and was helping to carry out his bidding. He might have even helped in Sakura's death. Sasuke definitely wasn't here to help him. He probably wanted to kill Itachi with his own hands. Let him.

But Sasuke immediately lunged for the buckled wrist straps, undoing them quickly but deftly.

Itachi's eyes widened slightly, asking, "Sasuke? What are you—"

"No time for questions," Sasuke interrupted quickly, finishing undoing the other wrist. "Finish untying yourself and get out of here. If you ever want to see Sakura again, you'll meet us at the cliff not far from here. Wait in front of the cave." And, with that, the younger Uchiha disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

A clone. But he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him. He could only concentrate on Sasuke's words, 'If you ever want to see Sakura again'. What had he meant? Sakura was dead, wasn't she? Was this a trap? A trick to lure him into a false sense of security?

Even if it was, what did it matter to him? If there was the slightest possibility that Sakura was alive, he would take it. And, if it was a trap, then fine. Because, either way he would see Sakura again.

So, he got off the table and looked around. How was he going to get out of the base without Pein or Kisame noticing? The two were probably on full alert, trying to find the culprits behind the explosion, and would be going every which way to find the person. So, what could he do?

Then, as though on cue, one of the room's stone walls was blown in, the explosion sending Itachi crashing into the far wall. He quickly ducked his head and used his arms to keep debris from hitting his head and, when the rumbling settled, he looked up to find the Kyuubi container standing where the wall used to be, glaring at him hatefully.

"N-Naruto-kun?" he stammered, eying the blond, not quite willing to believe that he was there, too. Naruto definitely didn't seem like the type to ally himself with Orochimaru. Hadn't he helped get Sasuke away from Sound? So then... what was really going on?

"Well?" Naruto asking impatiently, planting his hands on his hips and scowling at Itachi, "Are you going to quit gawking and get the hell up or am I going to have to drag your Uchiha ass out of here?"

The elder Uchiha blinked in surprise. Reluctantly, he got back to his feet and walked toward Naruto, finding that the adrenalin was keeping him from collapsing. It seemed that his body wasn't willing to believe that Sakura was really dead either.

"Follow me," the blond commanded in a clipped tone and turned, running into the trees. Itachi followed.

* * *

A/N: Woohoo! They're going to save the damsel in distress! XD


	17. The Will To Survive

A/N: Hooray for reviewers! Thank you, everybody! XD

* * *

When Naruto and Itachi managed their way out of the forest in front of the cave that played as one of the Akatsuki's many diversions, the blond pointed at the ground, saying coldly, "Now sit down, shut up and wait here."

Not knowing what else to do, Itachi humbled himself and did as told. The adrenalin wasn't doing such a great job anymore and now he was even more exhausted. His body felt heavy, his eyelids were drooping and he was finding it hard to catch his breath.

How long had it been since he'd been given anything to eat? He was pretty sure neither Pein nor Kisame had given him any food at all while he'd been locked in that cell. So, how long had he been in that cell?

He was pulled out of his wonderings by a small poof and he looked up to see that Naruto had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Another clone. Now Kisame and Pein would have no idea where to look, seeing as how the culprits had just exploded.

As though on cue, some of the bushes shook and rustled and then Naruto and Sasuke appeared. They looked around, their eyes landing on Itachi for a moment before looking around again.

"The clones worked," Sasuke commented, not sounding very surprised.

Naruto didn't add anything, only glared at Itachi.

"What's going on?" the elder Uchiha asked, feeling rather inferior to be the only one sitting and so being a good couple of feet shorter than the other two. It was a bit humbling. "Why did you save me back there? Why would you even be looking for this place?"

"Sakura-chan," was Naruto's clipped answer.

"I... I don't have her anymore," Itachi replied, trying to keep the regret he felt out of his voice.

"We know," Sasuke said, "I want you to help us get her back."

Naruto scoffed, but neither Uchiha paid him any mind. "Why?" the elder asked, "Why me? I'm the bad guy, remember?"

"The fact that the Akatsuki was about to kill you says otherwise."

Itachi cringed.

"She's going to get really hurt if you don't help us."

Itachi eyed Sasuke hesitantly. "I heard she died."

"Orochimaru has worse plans in mind for her than death. I'm not sure what they are, but I'm certain that he won't kill her. He needs her for something."

The elder cringed again.

"So?" Naruto asked impatiently, "Are you in or out?"

"She hates me," Itachi stated sadly, "How am I supposed to help when she hates me?"

"I don't think she hates you so much as she feels betrayed by you."

"I like hate better," Naruto pitched in, receiving a cuff across the head courtesy of Sasuke for his troubles.

Itachi sighed in relent. "I'm in."

Sasuke nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. He went into his pack and pulled out some food pills and a flask of water. "Take these. They'll give you energy and slake your thirst until we can get you some real food."

Itachi took them gratefully and, after swallowing the pills and drinking the water, looked to the ground guiltily. Well, if he was going to be working with his brother, they might as well get the past out of the way. "Listen, Sasuke, about—I mean, I never... I-I..."

"Is it true?" Sasuke asked when it was clear that the elder Uchiha wouldn't be getting out what he needed to say. "That you didn't kill the clan? That Orochimaru did it and took away Sakura's memories?"

Itachi looked up at his younger brother with shock. "How did you...?"

"I managed to sneak a peek at the letter Sakura wrote to Tsunade. It said it all in there. We all assumed that you had lied to her, but..." He paused to sigh, looking away. "I-I'm not so sure anymore."

Itachi's shocked face turned to one of sad relent. "It's true. And I ran off to avenge our family. I guess vengeance just runs in our bloodline."

Sasuke's lips quirked up in an almost-smile and he nodded. "Okay." He then reached down a hand toward his brother and said, "Let's go get Sakura back, brother."

Itachi's almost-smile was identical to Sasuke's. It was an Uchiha smile. He nodded and took the hand offered to him. "Yeah."

* * *

Orochimaru stood over Sakura who was collapsed on the floor, her body curled into the fetal position as she gasped for breaths her body was too exhausted to accept. Tears spilled from her eyes and her body shook.

_I'll forgive him, _she continued to tell herself, _I will forgive him. God, just let him come for me! Please, God, make him come for me!_

"We've had spies following our little friends around," Orochimaru stated, his voice filled with sick amusement as he watched her cry on the floor, too exhausted to move or speak, "They seem to be headed our way... with Itachi at their side. Are you happy to hear that?"

_He's... coming for me._

"Yes, he's coming for you," he agreed with a nod, "But do you really think I'll allow them to leave alive, let alone with you? No, of course not, because I have their greatest weakness in my clutches."

"... Huh?" the question was asked on an exhaled breath and so it sounded more like a sigh than anything else.

"You will be trying to kill them and they want you more than anything. They won't be able to kill you, but you'll be able to kill them. Oh, what a marvellous advantage we have."

"I... I won't... allow myself to kill them."

"Just as you haven't allowed me to take control of your mind?" Orochimaru queried with a laugh, "Just as you haven't allowed the rage to get the best of you? I would've thought that you'd realized by now just how little free will you have now. I could make you kill yourself right now if it suited me."

"I... won't kill... Itachi."

"Oh, but you so wanted to before. Why not now?"

"I... love... him."

"Still?" Orochimaru asked with a sigh, "Oh, well, I'll just have to concentrate harder when they show up to compensate. Such a hassle, Sakura, can't you make things easier for me and go back to hating him?"

"Go... to... Hell."

"Not until I take everybody else with me."

* * *

A/N: I like that last line... XD


	18. I Will Save You!

A/N: Okay, so, not including this chapter, there are four chapters left! ... Most of them involving the climax... because it's a looooong climax! Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"This way," Sasuke whispered, rushing ahead to lead the way toward the cells. Itachi was right behind, his jaw clenched, trying to keep his anger under check.

Orochimaru... what the hell could that bastard want with his—no, not his anymore—Sakura? Why did he want her? Was this just some way of getting to him? No, he could have gotten to him before. He had waited until Itachi was out of the picture to make his move, so he obviously had something to do with her. Did this have anything to do with that jutsu and how her memories were coming back?

Well, he was going to find out.

"They're right over here," Sasuke said, pulling Itachi out of his thoughts, "We just need to figure out which one's holding Sakura."

"Orochimaru probably already knows we're here," Itachi stated, walking forward and stepping in front of the younger Uchiha, "And, since we haven't been attacked yet and most of the traps were simple enough, I would imagine he wanted us to find him. So, why don't you come out and chat with us, Orochimaru? Or are you too afraid to face me?"

A deep chuckle echoed down the corridor, but the figure that stepped out of one of the cells was definitely not Orochimaru. It was too small, too shapely, too feminine to be male. Too much like Sakura to be anybody else.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily, rushing forward, arms outstretched to hug her. "Oh, Sakura-chan, I'm really sorry everybody lied, but Itachi's here and he can explain just what's going on and—"

Itachi saw the dim light glint off of a metal object in Sakura's silhouetted form before the blond stopped and Itachi was rushing forward before the female could lunge for Naruto's throat. "Sakura!" he exclaimed, grabbing her wrist just before the blade punctured the Kyuubi container's jugular, "What are you doing?!"

Sakura took in a gasp of breath before wrenching her arm out of his hold. "You!" she exclaimed hatefully, "You! Why are you here?!"

"Why am I here?" Itachi repeated, trying to hide his disbelief. He had to remember that she hated him now. "I'm here to save you."

"I don't _need_ saving, thank you very much," she hissed, "Especially not from the man I intend to kill."

"Intend to...?" Naruto's words trailed off as all of the torches hanging from the walls in the corridor lit up in rapid succession, shedding light onto what was going on.

Sakura was glaring up at Itachi so hatefully, her chest heaving with what was probably rage. Her eyes wore dark circles under them and her complexion was pallid. She looked so exhausted, but seemed to be getting energy from some unknown place. She clutched the kunai in her hand so tightly that her knuckles were white and her bare feet were shaking under her weight. How long had it been since she'd been fed?

She snarled when she noticed his gawking and reared back, only to lunge toward him, kunai held before her. Itachi was able to dodge the attack, but right after she missed her target, she was already attacking again.

Then, Orochimaru came out of the same cell Sakura had been in, smirking with amusement. "Oh, what a treat. All of you are here so we don't have to go through all the trouble of hunting you down. Marvellous."

"You've filled her head with lies, haven't you?" Itachi asked, grunting as he barely managed to dodge another one of Sakura's attacks. She seemed oblivious to Orochimaru's presence. "You took advantage of her anger and now she wants to kill us all?"

"Mmm, something like that," Orochimaru answered vaguely.

"Come on, Naruto!" Sasuke barked, rushing forward to help immobilize Sakura. "We have to help!"

"Nuh-uh-uh," Orochimaru sang, appearing before Sasuke, smirking with amusement, "Sorry, boys, but I think it would be only fair to keep things one-on-one for Sakura and Itachi. So, I'll be the opponent for both of you."

Sasuke spat, "You just don't want to fight Itachi because he's stronger than you."

"Ah, very perceptive, Sasuke-kun! Very good eye, my boy. Yes, I would rather not fight Itachi. Besides, I think those two need to work through their little lover's spat. So, we'll let them sort things out."

"Don't hurt her!" Naruto shouted at Itachi, who was still dodging the attacks.

"I know," Itachi replied, ducking to the side and just barely avoiding having a kunai lodged in his throat, "I know." He tried to grab hold of her, to stop her attacks, but she kept on ducking away from him and then charging from a new direction. "Sakura, why don't you calm down so that we can talk?"

She didn't acknowledge that he'd spoken.

He sighed, pursing his lips. What was he to do? He couldn't keep dodging her forever; he couldn't wait for her to tire out, but he couldn't use force to stop her or else he'd risk hurting her. The only thing he could do was...

He sighed and whispered, "I'm sorry, Sakura." He activated Sharingan and focused on her eyes... then stopped. "Wha...?"

Her eyes. They were the normal green color, but the pupils were so dilated that they almost couldn't be seen. He shook his head. She'd been in that cell for how long? Of course her eyes would be unadjusted to the light. But still... there was something wrong with her eyes, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They seemed dull and lifeless, unfocused, dazed. They looked blind.

But that wasn't possible. She was attacking him with such precision that she couldn't possibly be blind. So what was wrong? Why were her eyes dazed like that?

He turned his eyes to Orochimaru to see him fighting with both Naruto and Sasuke, but something wasn't quite right with him, too. His movements were quick enough to dodge, but not as quick as would be expected of one of the Sannin. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

He focused his Sharingan and then noticed the flow of chakra he was sending toward Sakura. And then he realized. He was controlling her mind.

Okay, so how did he stop it?

* * *

A/N: That is a very good question. A question that only I and Orochimaru know at the moment! XD


	19. Love Will Find A Way

A/N: Yosh! Next chapter! XD

* * *

He was obviously controlling her mind using a jutsu. He had to be. Itachi wondered if this was somewhat like the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transfer jutsu and, if so, Sakura's conscious mind had to be in there, dormant somewhere. All she needed was a push to fight against Orochimaru's control.

"Sakura," Itachi called, deciding on a tactic, "Sakura, do you hear my voice?"

"Of course I hear your voice, idiot," she answered impatiently, "That's why I'm trying to make it stop! It pisses me off even more."

"No, Sakura, Orochimaru is controlling you, making you speak and move. If my voice is breaking through, then please, fight against it. Fight against his control and come back to me!"

"Shut up!" she snapped, lunging for him.

He dodged and twirled to get behind her, taking her arms and forcing them behind her back. "Fight against him, Sakura," he whispered, "Remember all we've gone through this past year. Remember how much we love each other... and come back to me."

"Shut up!" she screamed, trying to wriggle out of his hold, but his hands remained firmly on her hands. "Let go of me!"

"No!" he shouted back, leaning his forehead on her shoulder, "No! I won't let you go! I've done it twice because I thought I was helping you, but now... now I don't care if this will help you or not! I'm going to be selfish and I am going to stick by your side even if it means that we'll die! Because at least we will die together, knowing we love each other."

"Let go of her!"

Itachi looked over to see that Orochimaru had turned to them, his eyes blazing furiously, Sasuke And Naruto clutching his arms, keeping him from moving. Itachi smirked. Good, that meant that he was having an effect. Maybe that meant that his control over her was weakening?

"Sakura, I love you," he whispered, turning back to her and wrapping his arms around her, still making sure that her arms were kept firmly at her sides. He brought his lips to her ear and whispered, "Watashi no taisetsu... I love you. Even if you hate me, even if you want nothing to do with me, even if I hurt you beyond forgiveness... I will forever love you. My beloved."

Sakura's body tensed.

Orochimaru glared and stormed forward, obviously to take Itachi out, but Sasuke and Naruto got in his way, poised to fight.

"Nuh-uh-uh," Naruto mocked in a sing-song tone, "We're your opponents, remember? We're all supposed to leave them to work out their lover's spat."

Orochimaru growled. "I'll just have to take out you pests and get the girl then."

"Sakura," Itachi continued to whisper. "Sakura, I love you."

"I-I...tachi." she whispered weakly, her voice hollow and barely audible. Her words were choked, as though it was taking a great effort to get them out. He had no doubt that it was taking a great effort. "If he comes for me, I will forgive him. If he comes for me, I'll forgive him. I love him, I won't kill him. I love Itachi."

Itachi's heart skipped a beat and Orochimaru let out a roar of rage. The Uchiha wrapped his arms around her tighter while moving to get in front of her at the same time. When he was in front of her, he slowly let his grip on her slacken until his arms were no longer around her anymore. He let his hands cup her cheeks and incline her head so that he could look into her face.

Her eyes were still dull and lifeless, but now there were tears in them and her jaw was trembling. She was fighting! "Itachi. Help... me. So... tired."

"Sakura," he whispered on an exhale as tears welled in his own eyes, "My Sakura. Come back to me. I've come for you, now come back."

* * *

Sakura was only vaguely aware of her surroundings. What her mind was concentrating on the most was the scorching heat flowing through her veins and Orochimaru's voice telling her how much she hated Itachi, how badly she wanted him dead, how he deserved it. She was also only barely aware of her movements, but her mind seemed detached from her physical form.

She only knew that Itachi had to die and he had to die by her hand.

Then a new voice appeared in her mind. An intruder had somehow tapped into her mind and now was telling her things. Now, that was no good. She couldn't have that. Because Itachi had to die, he couldn't be putting suggestions in her mind. That simply would not do.

But then she heard the anger in Orochimaru's voice and something inside of her collapsed. She understood the intruder's words and she suddenly knew. Itachi was fighting for her, not against her.

"Sakura, I love you. Watashi no taisetsu... I love you. Even if you hate me, even if you want nothing to do with me, even if I hurt you beyond forgiveness... I will forever love you. My beloved."

And then she felt something inside her break and she found the boiling blood inside of her calming a little, cooling a little. She felt her body go rigid as she noticed Itachi's arms around her and she was certain. She had to fight.

_Don't listen to him, Sakura, just keep fighting! Remember all that man did you! Remember your need for revenge and finish him off quickly!"_

"I love you, Sakura."

She had to fight against Orochimaru's control. It took energy and resolve that she didn't know she had, but she managed to force her lips apart only a little bit and get a few whispered words to escape her mouth. "Itachi... if he comes for me, I'll forgive him. I love him, I won't kill him. I love Itachi."

She heard Orochimaru's voice inside her head grow more insistent, more desperate, but she still fought. She needed to get back to Itachi. She had promised that, if he came for her, she would forgive him. Well, she intended to live to fulfill that promise.

She felt water build up behind her eyes and she allowed the tears to flow. She had to show Itachi that she was fighting. This would show him. "Itachi. Help... me. So... tired."

"Sakura, my Sakura. Come back to me. I've come for you, now come back."

Then, suddenly, in one huge burst, she felt the rage return. Her blood boiled hotter than ever before and her breaths came out in uneven, ragged bursts. It hurt so badly, it was agonizing. Her body felt so heavy, but she still found the energy to move... even though she didn't want to move.

_"KILL HIM!!!" _Orochimaru's voice shouted in her head with anger and desperation and hatred. "_KILL HIM NOW!!!"_

"No!" she shrieked even as she plunged her kunai into Itachi's belly.

A/N: ... Oopsie n.n"


	20. How the Mighty Have Fallen

A/N: Yay! Reviews! From now on, all of my reviewers are my BEST friends! XD

* * *

Itachi let out a grunt of surprised pain and then looked down to see Sakura's face twisted into a look of both rage and sorrow, her trembling hands still holding onto the kunai sticking out of his belly. He let out another grunt, this one of realization and he found himself rocking on his feet, unable to keep his balance.

He groaned and then fell backward, falling onto the ground. He looked up blearily at Sakura as her eyes slowly began to shine again with both life and tears. She looked around in confusion and then looked down at him, her jaw trembling.

She gasped, her hands flying to her face, smearing his blood onto her lips. When she realized this, she screamed. "Itachi!" She fell to her knees and, as his consciousness began to recede, he heard her whisper, "I love you." And then the brunt of her weight fell on top of him.

* * *

"I did it!" Orochimaru exclaimed, sounding surprised for some reason unkown to Sasuke. "After all these years, all this time, all this work, I did it!"

Sasuke cursed. Of course she had to get a hold of herself right _after_ stabbing Itachi. Perfect. But he turned to Orochimaru to see him eying Itachi and Sakura with awed happiness. He seemed to have forgotten about Sasuke and Naruto.

Speaking of the blond... he turned to Naruto to see him already eying the younger Uchiha, an unspoken inquiry in his eyes. Sasuke nodded and Naruto took out his katana, rushing at Orochimaru's back. With one clean swipe of his blade Orochimaru's head fell right off his shoulders and the tall body that had once belonged to one of the three Sannin crumpled to the floor in a bloody mess.

Sasuke sighed. "It's over."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, not paying a speck of attention to anybody else anymore. He rushed forward and knelt beside the couple, pulling Sakura off of Itachi and placing her gently on the floor on her back. "Sakura-chan, are you alright?"

"She has no life-threatening injuries," Sasuke stated, "For her to carry out the task of killing Itachi, she'd need to be alive, so he probably just starved her and made sure that she didn't hurt herself. She'll live."

"A-And... Itachi?"

"You care?" the younger Uchiha asked dryly, looking away to hide the fact that he, too, cared.

"Well... he did help Sakura-chan. And he didn't kill the clan, apparently. I think I can eventually forgive him for trying to turn me in to the Akatsuki, too."

Sasuke nodded. "Well, if we fix up that wound, I don't see why he wouldn't survive." He walked forward and sat beside his prodigal brother, pulling out the kunai. Before too much blood managed to escape the wound, Sasuke opened the cloak Itachi still wore and pulled up the shirt to reveal the wound.

He went into his weapon's pouch to pull out the small palm-sized first aid kit he kept with him. He took out the suture thread and a needle and immediately set to work.

His hand definitely wasn't steady. He was nowhere near as skilled as any novice medic-nin and he thanked God that Itachi was unconscious so that he wouldn't feel the accidental pricks the needle would make when his hand missed its target, but he still managed to get the wound stitched up, albeit sloppily. He then took out some food pills and forced them down Itachi's throat. That would help his body produce enough blood to replace the bit that he'd lost and Sasuke was sure that he'd survive.

It was only a matter of time before he awoke.

"We should wait here until he wakes up," he decided aloud while Naruto continued to fuss over Sakura, "I doubt Sakura will be waking up anytime, her mind has been under a lot of pressure from Orochimaru. I doubt she'll make it without lapsing into a coma."

"A coma?!" Naruto exclaimed, looking up sadly.

"I don't know, I'm not a medic," Sasuke stated with a shrug, "It was just my opinion. I heard that people go into comas when their brains have been injured and need time to heal. Sakura's brain must have been injured through all of this.

Naruto nodded. "True. I just hope she survives."

The younger Uchiha looked into the pale face of his brother and nodded. "Me, too." _I doubt Itachi would have much to live for if Sakura were to die._

* * *

Tsunade had been fussing over her latest lottery ticket when Shizune came into the office with a message.

"It's from Naruto and Sasuke, Milady," the younger female stated, placing the scroll on the desk before her mistress and then sitting down to wait for the news.

The blond stared at the scroll for a long time, wondering what she should do. No matter what direction Naruto and Sasuke's plans had gone in, whether things had turned out in their favor or not, this message would have very important news. And Tsunade wasn't entirely sure that she was prepared for yet another bomb to be dropped in her lap.

She sighed and picked up the scroll anyway. She undid the tie and unrolled it, reading the three short sentences it contained:

_We're on our way home. Sakura and Itachi are with us. Be prepared for our return._

"So...?" Shizune asked hesitantly. "What does it say?"

Tsunade rolled the scroll closed again and handed it over. "See for yourself," she said quietly and she had to bow her head to hide the tears brimming in her eyes.

* * *

A/N: Bah, don't cry! This is your fault to begin with! XP


	21. The Truth Behind Their Past

A/N: Second last chapter! Yayz!

* * *

"Ugh," Itachi groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted and then let his eyes wander around his surroundings to find that he was still in the hallway he'd been in when he'd collapsed. "S-Sakura..."

"She's alright," he heard somebody say and he turned his head to see Sasuke sitting beside him, resting his chin on one knee while Sakura's head rested on the other one, "She went unconscious after she stabbed you and still hasn't come out of it. We suspect she's just recuperating."

Itachi looked at her and reached over to stroke her cheek with his knuckles. He smiled sadly when she sighed happily and leaned her face into the caress.

"You really love her."

It wasn't a question, Itachi realized and he sighed, closing his eyes. "Yes."

"And you lied to her, thinking it would keep her safe?"

He nodded. "I went against my better judgement by leaving her all alone, so she has every reason to hate me. It is my fault she's in this mess, after all."

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so. Orochimaru seemed to want her no matter what. If you hadn't left her, I think he would've just waited for a moment that she was alone to kidnap her."

"Because he had the ability to control her mind," Itachi concluded, staring up at the stone ceiling.

"Exactly."

He sighed. "That night really affected us all, didn't it? It took me away from my home, from my family, from the girl I loved; it took away your entire family; it took away Sakura's memories... all because of Orochimaru's petty need for revenge."

Sasuke looked down at the floor sadly. "... Brother?"

Itachi tensed at the term and the tone in Sasuke's voice. "Yes?"

"You... you really loved Father, didn't you?"

The elder Uchiha's eyes closed and he sighed regretfully. He answered, "It's really very hard for me to describe what I felt for our father. He helped to bring both of us into this world and he helped in molding me into the shinobi I am today, but he and I never saw eye to eye. To him, the greatest priority was maintaining the clan, but he wouldn't listen to reason. The rest of the villagers were outsiders to him and he treated them as inferior... especially Sakura."

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked with disbelief.

"I had introduced Sakura to Mother and Father one time. Mother had adored her, but Father... not so much. He apparently didn't like the idea of me having relationships outside of the clan. He especially didn't like the idea of the village having any influence over me since I would one day become the head of the clan."

"So... what happened?"

"I became angry. Father started putting more pressure on me so that I would focus more on missions than my personal life—than Sakura—but I would come up with excuses to see her. I would say that I had missions or training, those kinds of things, but would really go see her." He chuckled, the sound holding no humor as he admitted, "You can blame my never giving you any shuriken training on Sakura. Anyway, we got into a lot of arguments, I'm pretty sure Father told you to stop following in my footsteps, and then... they died."

"Do you miss them?"

Itachi turned a sad smile toward his brother. "What kind of question is that? I've spent my time ever since that day trying to hunt Orochimaru down to avenge our clan. _Of course_ I miss them."

Sasuke looked away with a rosy tinge to his cheeks. "And that whole hatred nonsense you spewed?"

Itachi chuckled. "I didn't want you to get involved with Orochimaru. I thought it would be better for you to hate me and never know that I was innocent than for you to risk your life fighting him. But Orochimaru twisted it all around and used you as a Plan B."

Sasuke winced. "None of your plans seem to have worked out very well, huh?"

"Mm, no, not really. I guess Father was right in trying to keep Konoha's influence away from me. It completely twisted around my priorities. It had me deciding through emotions rather than logic."

"And here I thought you were the stone cold Uchiha." Both Itachi and Sasuke turned to see Naruto round the corner with some flasks of water. "Looks like nobody else is here," the blond stated, handing a flask to both Uchihas, "I'm assuming they ran off when we killed Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru is...!" Itachi shot up and looked to the side to see Orochimaru lying on the ground headless. He blinked in surprise. "Well... um... that's definitely not an uncomfortable sight."

Both Sasuke and Naruto chuckled. "Well, we hadn't expected you to wake up so soon," Sasuke stated, "Or else the body would be disposed of by now."

"And now that you're up, we can go back to Konoha," Naruto added.

"Back to..."

"You didn't think we were leaving you here, did you?" the blond queried. "You have to come, too, or else Sakura-chan won't want to stay."

Itachi sighed, looking back down at Sakura. "I don't think so. She'll probably want to get as far away from me as possible."

Naruto scoffed. "Will you cut out the whole self-pity bullshit? Sakura-chan loves you and I'm agreeing to let her keep loving you. That means I'm giving up my own love for her, so you better damn well appreciate it!"

Sasuke leaned over and whispered in Itachi's ear, "Trust me, you don't want to go against him when he makes up his mind. Once he's decided on something, it happens or else he'll beat up anybody who's dumb enough to stand in his way."

The elder Uchiha sighed again and relented, "Alright. I'll come, too."

Everybody stood up and Itachi knelt before Naruto had a chance so that he could pick Sakura up. He gathered her in his arms and stood back up. "Lead the way."

Naruto's lower lip jutted out and he said, "You'll reopen your wounds by carrying her."

"I'm fine, now lead the way."

Naruto huffed, but did as told.

* * *

The next day, as the four drew closer to the village, the Welcome Wagon decided that it was taking too long and met them the rest of the way.

"Hurry!" one of the several shinobi urged, taking Sakura from Itachi before the Uchiha could stop them, "Give Haruno-san to me, I'll rush her to the infirmary. You two, also, come with me. We'll have you looked over."

"Uchiha Itachi," another shinobi said, grimly, grabbing him by one arm while the others grabbed hold of him also, "You'll be coming with us. Hokage-sama would like to speak to you."

"No, wait," Sasuke said quickly, trying to free his brother from the hands that were holding him, "Itachi's with us! He's—"

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san," the second shinobi apologized, pushing Itachi down the trail, "Tsunade-sama's orders. The elder Uchiha is to be taken to his holding cell where she will speak with him personally."

Sasuke looked torn on what to do. "But—"

"If you have an issue, take it up with Hokage-sama."

"Well... just don't hurt him."

"Don't worry, Sasuke," Itachi said solemnly, looking at his younger brother from over his shoulder as he let the Konoha shinobi lead him away, "It's okay, just look after Sakura. Make sure she's okay."

"Don't act so self-sacrificing, you idiot!" Sasuke shouted after him, but Itachi had already been taken away.

* * *

A/N: Lol, you know, I don't think I'm writing Itachi very well. Every plan he's made throughout both of these stories has failed, Sasuke had to save him, he's wallowing in a pit of self-pity... I'm breaking so many rules here!


	22. Aftermath

A/N: Well, lost the first version of this chap because the site was being evil, so here's this one! Sorry if it's crap... -.-

Anyway... on to the big news! This is the last chapter! XD Now, I know I say this every time I finish a story, but I had a lot of fun writing this! There were times when it was a pain (but I blame Kyuubi for coming to Edmonton and destroying my home, so it's all good XD) and I'm pretty sure I sold my soul to the fanfiction gods to get the chapters out on time, but I finally finished it! Woot!

Thank you to everybody who reviewed! You're always such a marvellous help in the creative process and I love you all sooooooo much! Now then, stay tuned and read the final author's note for a special note from our sponsors (AKA: me (since I don't get paid to do this (so I have to work in a bakery... =.=)))!

* * *

"Congratulations, Sasuke, Naruto, on returning Sakura to where she belongs," Tsunade said, sitting back in her chair, "She seems to have some minor cuts and bruises and a few bones in one of her hands are broken. Her cognitive abilities are slightly, but temporarily, lacking, but that should remedy itself after some rest and recuperation. She should be back to her old self in no time."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you, Ma'am."

"If there is anything either of you would like, please feel free to ask. This village is very much in your debt at the moment."

"Actually," Sasuke said, cutting Naruto off before he could ask for a lifetime supply of free ramen, "There is something. A bit of a big something."

"Name it."

Sasuke smirked. "Where is Itachi?"

Tsunade's professional expression turned grim. "Except that, Uchiha. We still need him for questioning, so he can't die yet. I've already spoken with him, however, and he is willing to die for his sins if it means yours and Sakura's assurance of safety, so I'm quite sure your family will be avenged soon."

Sasuke had to keep from glaring at Tsunade. He had just gotten his brother back, he was not going to give him up so easily. Especially since his family had already _been_ avenged. He said, "You misunderstand, Hokage-sama, all I want is for Itachi to stay in Sakura's hospital room with her."

The blond's eyes narrowed and she said, "I don't think that's entirely wise."

"With all due respect, Milady," Sasuke replied patiently, "You didn't listen to Naruto all those months ago and look how things turned out. If it makes you more comfortable, put them in a room with no windows and station a guard at the door. Do what you feel necessary, but Itachi needs to be at her side when she wakes up. I intend to give you a full report explaining the situation, but for now, please, just trust my judgement."

Tsunade paused, then sighed in relent. "Alright, I'll take a leap of faith on this one."

"Thank you."

_

* * *

_

_I wonder if she's awake yet. Has she asked for me? Is she in any condition to be asking anything at all? Well, I guess it really doesn't matter now, does it?_

Itachi couldn't stop the endless questions running through his mind any easier than he could stop his pacing. It was an endless cycle: step, step, step, wall, turn. Step, step, step, wall, turn and, with every turn, the questions became more forceful, demanding their answers.

"It's rather interesting to see you be the one cracking under pressure for a change."

Itachi looked up at the sound of that familiar male voice and stopped pacing when he saw Sasuke smirking at him through the bars, dangling a key ring on his index finger. "I take it you want to see her?"

"Did... she ask for me?"

The younger Uchiha shook his head apologetically. "She's still unconscious, unfortunately, but I think it would be good for her if you were beside her when she wakes up. She might not remember much beyond the rage and may be afraid that she killed you."

Itachi shook his head. "It would do neither of us any good. Tsunade will put me to death and seeing Sakura will only make things all the more difficult."

"Nah," Sasuke replied, waving a dismissive hand, "I managed to convince her to keep you alive until I can explain the situation and even got her to let me take you to Sakura's room. As soon as everything's sorted out, you'll be a free man."

"But Sakura—"

"Loves you," he cut in, "If you don't want to go up there for yourself, go up for her. She needs to see you more than anybody else in this village, in this entire world even. So, what do you say?"

The elder Uchiha sighed, closing his eyes. Sasuke made a valid point. Even if she couldn't forgive him, even if she didn't love him anymore, even if she hated him, waking up all by her lonesome would be terrifying. Especially after all she went through. So, he opened his eyes to look at his younger brother and nodded his assent, stepping forward.

* * *

"_Hey, Itachi?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Let's stay together forever, okay?"_

"_... Okay."_

_If only things were that easy._

As Sakura's eyes fluttered open, she tried to grasp the most current memory she had, but she could only recall the force of that final rage and Itachi's voice piercing through the darkness. "I love you," he'd whispered.

Itachi... was he okay? She hadn't hurt him, had she? Oh, God, what if she had?

Unbidden, tears of fear welled in her eyes and she didn't have the strength to fight them back. How could they ever stay together forever? How, when every force in nature was fighting to keep them separated?

She spotted some movement from the corner of her eye and turned her head to see Itachi half-sitting in a chair beside the bed with his arms folded on the bed and his face buried in them. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him and her mind began working, trying to figure out where they were and how he was alive.

She reached out to him with a weak, trembling hand and placed it on his head, burying her fingers in his short black hair. Her breathing hitched when she felt him under the palm of her hand and she realized that this wasn't a dream, he was really with her.

In response to her touch, Itachi tensed and lifted his head to show a pallid complexion and red-rimmed eyes. It looked like he had been crying for hours and that realization made him look absolutely beautiful to her. He'd been crying for her. Her hand moved down to cup his cheek and he leaned into the caress. He looked so tired and so grief-stricken that a fresh round of tears welled in her eyes.

"Sakura, I—"

"Shh," she hushed gently, stroking his cheek with her thumb, "It's alright."

"Alright?" he repeated incredulously, his face twisting with his self-loathing, "Alright? You're in here because of me. You could have _died_ because of me. I left you alone and now—"

"Itachi?"

He paused, eying her hesitantly. "Yes?"

"Let's... let's be together forever, okay?"

At first, he looked shocked, but then he smiled. "Okay."

She smiled in return.

"You said that once before," he told her, "A long, long time ago. We were having a picnic in the park and—"

"And I was sitting in your lap," she cut in quietly, closing her eyes to concentrate on the memory, "We had... dumplings, I think. The whole thing had been a surprise from you. It was the first time you ever told me you loved me."

He let out a long, soft exhalation. "You remember."

She nodded. "I had been six years old, no naïve. I knew so little... the only thing I had been sure of was my feelings for you."

His eyes widened as he fully grasped the weight of what she'd said and he repeated, "You remember!"

She smiled. "Orochimaru must be dead now. I... don't feel his presence anymore. I used to feel his presence in my mind, but it's gone now. There's nothing keeping my memories from me anymore."

"Oh, God," he whispered in awe, sliding off the chair to kneel at her bedside and resting his head on her belly. "Finally... after all this time, you finally remember."

She nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And what about the Akatsuki?"

He tensed. "It's been nearly a week since Sasuke and Naruto busted me out, so—"

"They did _what_?!"

He chuckled. "Hard to believe, isn't it? Anyway, Pein and Kisame would have noticed my absence immediately and would fit the pieces together eventually. I doubt it will be long before we see them again."

"So, what do we do?"

Itachi lifted his head to look into her eyes and answered, "The only thing we can do: we rely on our allies and on each other."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "And if you leave me again, so help me God, I'll—"

"You look thirsty," the Uchiha cut in quickly, grabbing the cup of water on the bedside table and handing it to her with a sheepish grin. "Here, drink up."

She reluctantly did as told.

"Good girl. Now I'll let the guard know you're awake so that he can alert the nurses."

"Guard? Nurses?"

Itachi chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. He said quietly, "We're in Konoha."

"WHAT?! And you're still alive?!"

"Yeah, thanks to Sasuke."

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

The male nodded with a sigh and kissed her forehead. "But let's just be thankful that we're alive, we're together and we're home. We have a lot of reminiscing to do now that you have your memories back and I'd rather do it sooner... before the Akatsuki gets to us."

Sakura smiled. "Right. We're... home."

Home... It was so nice to finally be able to say that. Even if the Akatsuki came after them eventually, all that mattered at that moment was that Orochimaru was dead, she had her memories back and she was home. She was home because Itachi was by her side.

* * *

A/N: Okay, people, I'm a bit indecisive at this point, so you guys can make the final decision. On one hand, we have no idea what's going on with the Akatsuki and so have no closure in that area, but on the other hand, this is the ending of the second story, Orochimaru is dead and Sakura has her memories back. I have a plotline made up for a third story and even a title, but it's completely up to you whether you want more or you think this particular idea has passed its zenith.

So, please review and tell me what you'd like! Because, either way, I'll still be writing _something_.

Anyway, thank you for the marvellous reviews and I hope you enjoyed Reminiscence!

So, until next time, Italova... OUT!


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